Efje Belobeti IBigciple.
 
 ^
 
 A SERMON 
 
 PREACHED IN WESLEY-CHAPEL, LINCOLN, JANUARY 26, 186 
 ON THE DEATH OF THE 
 
 REV. JOHN HANNAH, D.D. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 OF THE DECEASED. 
 
 r:v 
 
 FREDERICK J. JOBSON, D.D. 
 
 LONDON: 
 66, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 
 MDCCCLXyill.
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED BY HAYMAN BROTHERS A CO., 
 OOUQM SQUARE. E.C.
 
 TO THE 
 
 fHetljolu'gte of tfje Cttg of ^Lincoln 
 
 THE FOLLOWING DISCOURSE, 
 
 DELIVERED ON 
 THE DEATH OF A CHRISTIAN MINISTER 
 
 WHOM THEY 
 
 LOVED, HONOURED, AND REVERED, 
 IS RESPECTFULLY AND FRATERNALLY INSCRIBED 
 
 BY THEIR FELLOW-CITIZEN.
 
 PREFA CE. 
 
 Friendship has its obligations as well as its 
 privileges. Hence, when my Methodist fellow - 
 citizens requested me to improve for them the 
 death of my beloved friend, Dr. Hannah, in his 
 native city , I felt, at once, that it was my duty to 
 comply. The same sense of obligation impels me 
 to respond to their further request, and to pub- 
 lish this Sermon and Memoir. 
 
 Ordinarily, no apology for an unfinished 
 literary production ought to avail with readers, 
 who have a full claim iipon an author for his 
 best performances. But, in addition to the very 
 brief time necessarily intervening between death 
 mid a funeral -sermon, it must in this case be 
 named, that severe personal and family affliction, 
 as zvcll as pressing daily duties, left but few
 
 7-m PREFACE. 
 
 hours for preparing the following Discourse and 
 its accompanying Biographical Sketch. 
 
 If, to general readers, the contents of these 
 pages should seem too free and local in some of 
 their references, let it be remembered that the 
 Discourse was delivered in Dr. Hannah* s native 
 city, to an audience corn-prising those who had 
 known him from his youth up, and who had 
 grateful recollections of his early and devout 
 association with themselves in the services of 
 Methodism. 
 
 In conclusion, the author would add, that /it- 
 will be thankful to find that this fragmentary 
 and familiar Sketch of one so worthy of the most 
 honourable memorial is made available in supply- 
 ing any facts and incidents for a more full and 
 finished Biography by an abler hand. 
 
 F. J. J. 
 
 21, Highbury-Place, London, N. t 
 'January, 1868.
 
 SEEMON. 
 
 JOHN XXI. 20. 
 "THE DISCIPLE WHOM JESUS LOVED." 
 
 HOW superior, in force and beauty of 
 significance, are the titles and distinc- 
 tions given by the Divine Being in the Scrip- 
 tures to His servants, compared with the 
 appendages affixed by the world and the 
 Church to the names of those whom they 
 delight to honour ! Men strain their ingenuity 
 for high-sounding terms with which to immor- 
 talize their favourites ; and style them, " the 
 sublime," "the magnificent," "the great," 
 " the heroic," " the golden-mouthed," " the 
 venerable," " the judicious." But how vastly 
 inferior are all such boasted titles to the 
 simple and dignified descriptions which the 
 Almighty has given in His word of those in 
 
 B
 
 2 Efje Belobrtj Bigdple. 
 
 whom He had special delight ! How little and 
 mean are such human epithets, for instance, 
 to the inspired declarations concerning Enoch 
 and Noah, that they "walked with God;" 
 of Abraham, that he was " called the Friend 
 of God;"- of Moses, "whom the Lord knew 
 face to face;" of David, that he was "the 
 man after His own heart ; " of Daniel, that he 
 was " greatly beloved ;" and of Nathanael, 
 that he was " an Israelite indeed, in whom 
 is no guile." These, and others that might 
 be named, are each and all higher titles 
 than any to be found in mere human history. 
 But the title which is three times claimed 
 by St. John in his own Gospel is more 
 beautiful and more honourable than any 
 of them, "the disciple whom Jesus loved." 
 To be loved by the Saviour, by God incar- 
 nate, by the holiest, the gentlest, and the 
 most lovable of all beings, there can be no 
 title or distinction so precious and desir- 
 able as this. 
 
 I do not fear the charge of presumption 
 in selecting this text of honourable appella-
 
 Belo&rt Biacfple. 3 
 
 tion for the apostle St. John as the basis of 
 observation upon the character of our de- 
 ceased father and friend. Mingling, as I 
 have been privileged to do, with Christian 
 people and Christian ministers of almost 
 every clime and every name, I have never 
 been personally associated with any man who 
 seemed to me so fully to represent, anew, 
 "the disciple whom Jesus loved," as DOCTOR 
 HANNAH. His character seemed, most remark- 
 ably, to be cast in the same mould and 
 type as that of St. John. Seventeen hun- 
 dred years have passed since the beloved 
 disciple fell asleep in Christ at Ephesus; 
 and our venerated friend and fellow- citizen 
 passed to his eternal rest only a few days 
 ago. The times, also, in which the apostle 
 lived differed, in many respects, from the 
 times in which our departed fellow-towns- 
 man wrought out his pilgrimage from earth 
 to heaven. But, notwithstanding these 
 differences of age and circumstances, the 
 resemblance, in the main features of their 
 spiritual characters, is so strong and marked, 
 
 B2
 
 4 ftf)E BdobrtJ Dfeciplt. 
 
 as to render the service I have to perform 
 easy, and, I trust, profitable. I shall not, 
 however, attempt any set and formal parallel, 
 as if I aimed to become a Christian Plutarch. 
 Nor shall I forget the distinctive difference 
 of one " called to be an apostle" and a min- 
 ister " separated unto the Gospel of God" in 
 the nineteenth century of our Lord. I shall 
 simply endeavour to direct your attention to 
 some of the more evident points of resem- 
 blance to the beloved disciple in the religious 
 character of him who has so recently passed 
 from the church militant on earth to the 
 church triumphant in heave'n. And I humbly 
 hope and earnestly pray that the fact thus set 
 before us of one of our own generation, one 
 familiarly known by us, having largely pos- 
 sessed the excellence of the very holiest apostle 
 may stimulate us both in our aspirations 
 and endeavours for personal holiness. 
 
 1. Observe, then, that " the disciple whom 
 Jesus loved " gave DEVOUT AND RKVERENT 
 
 ATTENTION TO HIS MASTER'S TEACHING. The
 
 very term " disciple," which means literally 
 scholar, signifies this. And how reverently 
 
 * O v 
 
 attentive St. John was to the teaching of 
 Christ may be seen in his affectionate remem- 
 brance of what the Saviour was, and in his 
 full and minute record of what the Saviour 
 said. No one of the Twelve has left us such 
 a reverent and full portraiture of Christ as 
 that which we owe to the loving limner, St. 
 John. The mind of the apostle seems to have 
 been open, with the most unreserved confi- 
 dence and trust, to receive his Lord's teach- 
 ing. From the time when the Baptist pointed 
 Jesus out, at Bethabara, as God's chosen and 
 appointed Sin-offering for mankind, John had 
 no doubt or misgiving of the Divine mission 
 of Christ as the Messiah. At once he would 
 seem to have relied upon the Lamb of God 
 for the taking away of his sins, and to have 
 given himself up, heart and mind, for learning 
 the great truths which Jesus came to make 
 known. Ever after that memorable day by 
 the Jordan, when, from being the disciple of 
 the Baptist, he became the disciple of Jesus,
 
 6 ftfje Eelofort) Oiscfple. 
 
 and abode with Him by express invitation, 
 John attended, with open and ready soul, to 
 receive without cavil and without reserve 
 whatever the Divine Master vouchsafed to 
 communicate. Whatever doubts or misgiv- 
 ings other disciples might have concerning 
 the Saviour, the " loving disciple" had none. 
 John had not to ask, "Who art Thou?" 
 or, " If Thou art the Christ, tell us plainly." 
 He believed with the fullest confidence of a 
 devout soul that Jesus was the Son of God 
 and the true Messiah ; and he opened freely 
 his mind to receive the great Master's 
 teaching. 
 
 And what a lovable mind was that of St. 
 John ! How artless and child-like in its sim- 
 plicity, and yet how wondrously capable of 
 the loftiest thoughts ! How calmly and surely 
 it soared up to the Father in heaven ; and 
 back to the past solitude of the eternal abyss 
 before anything was made ! The eagle, 
 selected by old painters, is, indeed, the true 
 emblem of John the Divine, in the height and 
 sweep of his Gospel. The " Omnific Word "
 
 Belobrti Bisdplc. 
 
 the Logos which confused the thoughts of 
 Plato the Evangelist John traced, not in 
 relation to human genealogies, as do Matthew 
 and Luke, but in His Divine and eternal Son- 
 ship, to the very bosom of the Father. John 
 asserts most positively his Master's Divinity ; 
 declaring that He was in the beginning, 
 before creation of any kind, that He was 
 the Creator of all things, and that He is 
 the light and life of men. John proclaims 
 his Lord's incarnation ; and affirms that 
 " the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among 
 us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of 
 the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace 
 and truth." And then, as if radiant with 
 the heavenly light shed upon him by the 
 Divine Teacher, and thoroughly convinced 
 that Jesus had come from Grod, and was God 
 incarnate, the "loving disciple" set himself 
 to record the very words of the Saviour, as 
 they fell from His lips ; and to record the 
 most touching incidents in His life, death, 
 and resurrection. 
 
 I repeat it, and repeat it gratefully, No
 
 8 2Tfje BelofortJ Disciple. 
 
 one of the Twelve has given us so full 
 and reverent a portraiture of Christ as St. 
 John. Without his Gospel, we should miss 
 much of the minute details of our Lord's 
 character and life. Think of John's picture 
 of the marriage in Cana of Galilee, where 
 Jesus was present to sanction and to sanctify 
 the wedded union of man and woman, and 
 to enrich the marriage-feast by His words 
 and works. Think of John's most valuable 
 record of Christ's discourse by night with 
 Nicodemus ; and of the precious communica- 
 tions made therein on inward renewal of man's 
 nature by the Spirit, on God's inexpressible 
 love for a perishing world, and on the eternal 
 life to be obtained by man through faith in 
 a lif ted-up Saviour. Think of John's beauti- 
 ful pictures of the Saviour by the Well of 
 Samaria, and at the Pool of Bethesda. Think 
 of the marvellous words of Christ which John 
 records relative to the resurrection unto life 
 which they shall experience that have done 
 good; and of the resurrection unto dam na- 
 tion which they shall experience that have
 
 isctple, 9 
 
 done evil. Think of John's wondrous picture 
 of verisimilitude the healing of the blind 
 man ; and of that sweetest masterpiece of 
 all family-pictures John's description of the 
 household at Bethany, and of the love of 
 Jesus for Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. Think 
 of the parable of the " Good Shepherd," and 
 its lessons, recorded solely by the fourth 
 Evangelist. Think of those tenderest, and 
 most precious to the believer, of all the pages 
 of the New Testament John's relation of 
 the Passover-Feast, and his rehearsal of that 
 sublime and heart-touching Farewell Address 
 to the disciples : that superhuman discourse 
 of love and consolation which John himself is 
 recorded to have often repeated from memory 
 in his extreme old age. Think of John's rela- 
 tion of the agony in the garden, the crucifix- 
 ion, the resurrection, the appearances to the 
 early visitors of the sepulchre, the appeal to 
 Thomas, the showing of Jesus to His disci- 
 ples by the lake of Galilee, the restoration 
 of Peter to his place in the apostleship, and 
 the final call of that apostle to follow Christ ;
 
 10 QEfjc BelofortJ Disciple. 
 
 and then say if John had not been reverently 
 attentive to his Master's teaching, and if he 
 has not given the fullest and most highly- 
 wrought portraiture of the Saviour. The last 
 Evangelist the " loving disciple" has filled 
 up the Gospel outline, put into it the most 
 tender and compassionate features, and made 
 it stand forth in its own simple majesty and 
 Divine impressiveness. 
 
 Jesus deeply loved this simple, open, re- 
 ceptive mind of St. John, and rewarded it 
 by fulness of communication. Who has 
 pleasure in being misunderstood, or in being 
 unappreciated ? The Saviour felt the pain of 
 being in a questionable position ; and said, 
 " Have I been so long with you, and yet hast 
 thou not known Me, Philip ? " But He had 
 not to utter such words of tender and gentle 
 reprehension to John. That disciple was a 
 reverent, attentive scholar, who sat at the 
 feet of Jesus, and heard His word ; and 
 therefore was "the disciple whom Jesus 
 loved." 
 
 This simple, open, receptive, and reverent
 
 iscfple, 11 
 
 nature was a prominent characteristic of our 
 deceased father and friend. From the time 
 when he first knew the truth as it is in 
 Jesus, and received the call to follow Christ, 
 he was devoutly and earnestly attentive to 
 his Master's teachings. Having been blessed 
 with Divine illumination, and having seen the 
 glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; 
 having been born again, and having experi- 
 enced, like John, that the blood of Jesus 
 Christ cleanseth from all sin* so that he could 
 confidently exclaim, " Beloved, now are we 
 the sons of God; " he had no misgivings on 
 essential, saving truth; and he had no 
 reserve in proclaiming it. His theology was 
 not based upon the speculations of men, 
 which may shift, as loose uncertain sands with 
 wind and tide. It rested on the Divine 
 word, and was corroborated by his own 
 experience. With what bright illumination, 
 and with what glowing delight, did DR. 
 HANNAH expatiate upon the Divinity of the 
 Son of God, upon His incarnation in human 
 flesh, and upon His teaching and work as
 
 12 fje BclofortJ Disciple. 
 
 a Saviour ! All who remember his ministry 
 will bear witness to this ; and all the Stu- 
 dents favoured with his Theological Lectures 
 will give like testimony concerning this ex- 
 cellence in the character of his teaching as a 
 Christian Professor. While simple and un- 
 constrained in his style and forms of expres- 
 sion, yet what Divine illumination appeared in 
 his teaching ! How certain the knowledge we 
 took of him that he had been with Jesus ! 
 How fully assured we were that he had taken 
 truth from Christ's own words, and not from 
 the subtleties of human reasoning ! 
 
 He was a student who pursued large 
 doctrinal inquiries, and was not unacquainted 
 with the scholastic theology of the Middle 
 Ages. But the Divine word was the Fountain 
 of Truth to which he continually went ; and 
 it was for him the infallible standard of judg- 
 ment for all he read and heard besides. 
 His pure love for revealed truth was beauti- 
 ful. The jargon of polemics neither moved 
 nor attracted him. While able to discrimi- 
 nate the different shades of thought by
 
 &f)e Bdobeli Bt'sdpU. 13 
 
 controversialists, and to weigh their argu- 
 ments, yet he could not bear the distraction 
 occasioned by them. His copy of the New 
 Testament, in its original language, or in 
 Bengel's rendering, was his daily companion. 
 He took it with him wherever he went, 
 devoutly read it, and reverently received its 
 revelations into a mind open, receptive, and 
 tenacious, like the apostle John's. In this 
 respect he, too, was " the disciple whom 
 Jesus loved." 
 
 2. Further, " the disciple whom Jesus 
 loved" evinced AEDENT AND AFFECTIONATE IN- 
 TEREST IN HIS MASTER'S PEESON AND SEEVICE. 
 This was a strong and prominent feature in 
 the apostle St. John. He clung to Jesus 
 with more than a brother's affection. He was 
 more than womanly in the tenderness and 
 devotedness of his love. He was with Christ 
 in the most private scenes, and on the most 
 solemn and sacred occasions. He was with 
 Him in the house of Jairus the ruler, 
 where the dead was raised to life, and where
 
 14 2Tfje 
 
 only two other favoured disciples were ad- 
 mitted. He was with Him on the Mount of 
 Transfiguration, where the bright cloud over- 
 shadowed the enraptured witnesses, and 
 where Jesus and His heavenly visitants spake 
 of His decease to be accomplished at Jeru- 
 salem. He beheld the sorrowful scene of 
 Bethany ; and, with a heart full of emotion, 
 compressed his description of the grief for 
 His human friend, experienced by the perfect 
 human nature of the Saviour, within two 
 short words, " Jesus wept." Indeed, he 
 is the historian of the Saviour's tears. He 
 drooped his pensive head on his Lord's 
 bosom, as he heard of coming separation; 
 and leaned upon that breast which, while 
 heaving with surging sorrow for a sinful world, 
 throbbed with sympathy for him and his 
 fellow-apostles, about to be left, as they 
 timidly thought, " comfortless." He was in 
 the Garden of Grethsemane, where Jesus prayed 
 in agony that bathed him in a sweat of blood. 
 He saw his Master betrayed, bound, led away 
 to judgment. He stood near the cross with
 
 2Kj BelofaU JBtscipIe. 15 
 
 the weeping women, when others had for- 
 saken the Saviour and fled. He adhered to 
 Him when even. Peter denied Him. He 
 received, from the crucified and expiring 
 Redeemer, Christ's own mother, as the 
 most precious legacy, and as a dying token 
 of the most confident love that could pos- 
 sibly be bequeathed to him. " And from 
 that hour that disciple took her unto his 
 own home," where, in the place of Jesus, 
 he daily ministered to her with filial affec- 
 tion. 
 
 On learning that Jesus was risen from the 
 dead, in his quick and ardent love, he outran 
 Peter, and came first to the sepulchre, where, 
 stooping down, he looked in. He was with 
 the disciples who saw Jesus in the upper 
 room. He saw Him again when Thomas 
 was present ; and has recorded how He who 
 was alive from the dead was willing to have 
 His wounds of crucifixion and of the soldier's 
 spear re-opened, to dispel the doubts of the 
 unbelieving disciple. He was on the Sea of 
 Galilee when Jesus stood on the shore, and
 
 16 2TfjE Belobrti Disciple. 
 
 gave counsel to the hungry and weary dis- 
 ciples that filled their boat and nets with 
 living loads; and, with the sharp-sighted 
 intuition of love, beheld who the unknown 
 stranger was, and said to Peter, "It is the 
 Lord." He stood and heard the charge 
 to Peter ; and went forth to follow Christ 
 at His command, patiently waiting for His 
 coming again. When a lonely witness for 
 the faith in the Isle of Patmos, he saw 
 Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, the first 
 and the last ; and exultantly heard Him pro- 
 claim, " I am He that liveth, and was dead ; 
 and, behold, I am alive for evermore." 
 
 He taught and governed the Church at 
 Ephesus in love ; and wrote Epistles overflow- 
 ing with the tenderest affection, Epistles 
 which, in their simple and unconnected parts, 
 are as the very spillings of his heart. He was 
 so engrossed with the theme of love to Christ 
 for what He had done, and for what He 
 would do for those that believe in Him, 
 that he refers to Him without so much as 
 mentioning His name ; knowing that Jesus
 
 Belobefc Disciple. 17 
 
 would be apprehended by all who could 
 exclaim, " We shall be like Him, for we 
 shall see Him as He is." He pondered on 
 the moral character of God until he com- 
 pressed the whole Gospel into three short 
 words, and gave expression, in a single 
 sentence, to a truth that eternity will not 
 exhaust or fully make known, " God is 
 love." In extreme old age, as an early 
 historian relates, he used to repeat to the 
 assembled church at Ephesus, day by day, 
 fragments of the last discourses of the 
 Saviour. And when he became so much en- 
 feebled by years that he could no longer walk 
 to the church, and teach connectedly, they 
 who loved him carried him in a chair, and set 
 him down in the midst of the congregation, 
 where, in fatherly simplicity and affection, 
 being then one hundred years old, he would 
 stretch out his trembling hands, and say, 
 " Little children, love one another." Un- 
 doubtedly John was, in spirit and dis- 
 position, tenderly affectionate. His Gospel, 
 his Epistles, his conduct and words, all 
 

 
 18 3Tfje BelofortJ Bisciple. 
 
 show this unmistakeably. And with the full 
 ardour of his loving, sanctified nature he 
 was attached to Christ's person and service. 
 On this account, also, he was " the disciple 
 whom Jesus loved." 
 
 It was so with our deceased fellow-citizen. 
 Affectionateness of disposition was in him a 
 strong characteristic. And with the full 
 ardour of his loving nature he devoted him- 
 self to the person and service of Christ. Jesus 
 was "all, and in all" to him. Jesus was 
 " the Angel standing in the sun" the veiy 
 centre and source of light and life. His 
 delight was to think of Christ, speak of 
 Christ, and preach Him in all His offices 
 and work. Who ever heard DR. HANNAH 
 preach a Christless sermon ? Who ever 
 heard him preach generalities in philosophy, 
 or mere morality, leaving Christ out of his 
 sermon, or in a secondary place or position ? 
 Who ever knew him mock sinful, perishing 
 men with eloquent harangues on what would 
 be called, by some, " original and interesting 
 subjects," but which left his hearers misin-
 
 Sfscfple. 19 
 
 formed on the way of life and salvation ? 
 no ! they who heard DR. HANNAH preach 
 must hear of Christ ; hear of Christ, as the 
 only way of salvation ; hear of Christ, as in 
 Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost at 
 the beginning, the middle, and at the end of 
 the sermon. If you heard him, you must 
 hear of Christ crucified, Christ risen from 
 the dead, Christ exalted, Christ enthroned. 
 He loved Christ ; and therefore must preach 
 Him; and preach Him as made unto His 
 people " wisdom, righteousness, sanctifica- 
 tion, and redemption." He must preach 
 Christ as the source and subject of exultant 
 hope to all His followers. And with this 
 strong and affectionate attachment to Christ, 
 he loved Christ's cause, and sought by all 
 possible means to extend Christ's name and 
 glory upon the earth. In this respect, also, 
 our departed friend was " the disciple whom 
 Jesus loved." 
 
 3. Again, " the disciple whom Jesus 
 loved" sought FULL AND COMPLETE CONFORMITY 
 
 c 2
 
 20 &fje Belobeti Digciplc. 
 
 TO HIS MASTER'S EXAMPLE. Who of the dis- 
 ciples is so like Christ as John ? Tradition 
 reports that there was close resemblance 
 between the form and figure of St. John and 
 Jesus ; and when we picture for ourselves 
 the face of John, we imagine in the coun- 
 tenance the same calm and pensive repose, 
 the same thoughtful, unruffled brow, and the 
 same sweet smile as on the face of -Jesus. 
 But tradition and imagination are uncertain 
 grounds on which to rest. The moral and 
 spiritual qualities of Jesus, however, John 
 had in fullest and fairest attainment. His 
 tender, plastic, receptive soul took the deep- 
 est and clearest impress of his Master's 
 character. His pure heart enabled him to 
 see God in Christ most clearly ; and his 
 calm, unruffled depth of love reflected the 
 traits and features of the Saviour's image, 
 under which he continuously dwelt. So that, 
 when we think of him, we uniformly think of 
 eminent spirituality, and of loftiest purity. 
 "We think of Peter the impetuous, of Paul 
 the learned, of Apollos the orator, but of
 
 JSfectple. 21 
 
 John the saint. An air of sanctity pervades 
 his name ; and, in our common view, he is the 
 brightest reflection of the Saviour's charac- 
 ter. He was the devoutest and nearest disciple 
 of Christ, and received most of his Master's 
 image. He had the most intimate communion 
 with Christ ; and, as " conversation is assimi- 
 lating," John received into himself most 
 fully the mind that was in Him, and he 
 became in all things conformed to the ex- 
 ample of his Master. His temper and dis- 
 position were like Christ's. There was real 
 congeniality, which is essential to intimate 
 friendship. There was in John perfect love, 
 Christian perfection, maturity in spiritual 
 excellence. 
 
 His Epistles are so full of love, and so 
 pure and rich in saving truths, that they 
 might have been written by Christ Himself. 
 How redolent they are with purity ; how 
 abhorrent they are of sin ; how strongly 
 they declare that " whosoever is born of God 
 doth not commit sin !" How tenderly and 
 compassionately they inculcate brotherly
 
 22 STfje Betobeli Disciple. 
 
 love ; what high spirituality they breathe ; 
 what sweet fragrance of devotion, what 
 incense of prayer and thanksgiving, perfume 
 them ! St. Jerome hands down a tradition 
 of the earlier Fathers, that the knees of the 
 apostle John were hard as camel's knees with 
 prayer. John had often been with his Master 
 apart in a desert place for devotion ; he had 
 ofttimes gone with the Saviour to the Mount 
 of Olives for communion with the Father ; 
 and the effect of this appears in all he wrote 
 and did. 
 
 And how calm and serene John was in 
 heavenly contemplation! As he approached 
 the close of life, he dwelt, in thought, in- 
 creasingly on his Master's last address, by 
 which the Saviour stilled the troubled hearts 
 of His disciples with words on His Father's 
 house of many mansions, which He was going 
 to prepare for them. And when, in the rocky 
 islet, John saw visions of earthquakes, and 
 darkness, and smoke, where horses appeared 
 up to the very bridles in blood, and where 
 Death on his Pale Horse rides forth stamping
 
 Belobefc Sisdple. 23 
 
 with iron hoofs the ground into graves ; 
 yet, amidst all this progressive ruin and 
 desolation, the record of which has made 
 Popes and despots writhe in their beds and 
 tremble on their thrones, how calmly he, 
 the child-like apostle, beholds the New Jeru- 
 salem coming down from God out of heaven, 
 and the pure river of the water of life flowing 
 onward from the throne, with its over-hang- 
 ing trees for the healing of all nations ! 
 Spirituality and heavenly-mindedness are 
 characteristic features of St. John. These 
 he had learned from Christ ; from the study 
 of His spirit, and from careful conformity 
 to His pattern in devotion, and to His example 
 in prayer and heavenly contemplation, until 
 he had become Christ-like. And pre-emi- 
 nently because he was Christ-liJce, he was 
 pre-eminently " the disciple whom Jesus 
 loved." 
 
 It was so with the beloved disciple just 
 departed from us. He had much of the 
 Divine Master's lovable image and likeness. 
 He was gentle, meek, and lowly; having
 
 24 CTfje Eclobrt) Bt'sciple. 
 
 learned this of Christ. Christian modesty 
 was evident in all he did and said. There 
 was no vaunting of himself. Loved and 
 honoured as he was, there was no boasting 
 of what he had been, and of what he had 
 done. Like the holy John, who hides him- 
 self in nameless allusions, and in sweet cir- 
 cumlocutions, as one of the two disciples who 
 were first to follow Jesus ; as " that disciple 
 whom Jesus loved;" and as " the other dis- 
 ciple who did outrun Peter ; " so our departed 
 friend, in real humility, in true modesty, 
 glorified not himself. " Meek JOHN HANNAH" 
 was the descriptive phrase given him in 
 youth, and which belonged to him all his 
 days. Those who knew him in this city, 
 when a boy, will recall his modest, humble 
 character. So gentle, so retiring ; so fearfiil 
 of being thought obtrusive, even from a child. 
 When, in this dear old Lincoln, he beheld his 
 sinfulness, and an aged leader, NOBLE SPROWLE, 
 asked him of his state, his only answer was, 
 " Worse and worse ! " And when, at length, 
 he found the Lord to be " merciful and
 
 SHje Belobrtf Ufecqrte. 25 
 
 gracious, pardoning iniquity, transgression, 
 and sin," as an aged class-mate declared, 
 the grateful joy expressed was so humble, so 
 prostrate, that the oldest believer was filled 
 with adoring wonder before God. 
 
 His devotional fervour was marked by all 
 who knew him. His worshipping spirit was 
 awed and prostrated in the presence of Jeho- 
 vah. He seemed to shrink into nothing 
 before Grod. Like the angels who cover their 
 faces with their wings in the presence of the 
 Most High, so he, profoundly reverent, 
 abased and hid himself, being clothed with 
 humility. What awe and solemn feeling he 
 manifested in his prayers ! He truly ap- 
 proached the throne of grace with fear and 
 trembling. And when, through the blood of 
 atonement, and the mediation of Christ, he 
 passed within the veil to the mercy-seat, 
 how his devout soul kindled with feeling of 
 adoration until he seemed radiant under the 
 shining forth of the Divine glory ! Who that 
 has been with him in social, family, or public 
 prayer does not remember this ? Thought-
 
 26 8H)c BrlobctJ Dt'sciplc. 
 
 less, mindless familiarity with the dread and 
 awful Jehovah in prayer was utterly foreign 
 to his reverent and humble soul. His prayer 
 was solemn, thoughtful, devout prayer, as all 
 prayer should be. And in his kindlings into 
 spiritual fervour, and in his pleadings with 
 God, it was evident that his whole heart 
 was prayerful. The very manner and lan- 
 guage of his audible prayer proclaimed 
 intimacy with closet-worship, and that he 
 cherished habitual prayer of the heart. It was 
 plain that he had often been on the moun- 
 tain apart, where a bright cloud had over- 
 shadowed him. Yea, like Moses, his very face 
 shone with the glory that rested upon him. 
 
 And so with sweet and heavenly contem- 
 plation. He was a cheerful, happy Christian, 
 looking towards his heavenly home, and wait- 
 ing until his Lord should come to receive 
 him. Perhaps he preached as many funeral 
 sermons for deceased Christians as any min- 
 ister of our day that could be named ; and 
 they were all Christian funeral sermons, 
 radiant with hope and joyful expectation.
 
 fje Bdobeti Bfeciple. 27 
 
 So with his ministry to the church. It was 
 heavenly in its tone and colouring ; it was 
 of " the better country;" it was on the sur- 
 passing blessedness of being with Christ, and 
 with the white-robed company of the re- 
 deemed. Of the same holy character was 
 his conversation ; and that to the end, when 
 he exclaimed, " All is well ! I shall soon 
 be where the weary are for ever at rest." 
 Like his Lord, he looked to the joy set before 
 him. And in conformity to his Master's 
 image in gentleness, goodness, meekness, 
 lowliness, true spirituality, and heavenly- 
 mindedness he was " the disciple whom 
 Jesus loved." 
 
 4. Once more, I observe the beloved 
 disciple rendered FIRM AND RESOLUTE OBEDI- 
 ENCE TO HIS MASTER'S COMMANDS. John was 
 not a weak, timorous Christian, yielding to 
 any strong influence that came upon him. 
 He was, naturally, an impulsive and an 
 aspiring man. He and his brother were 
 called " Boanerges the sons of thunder."
 
 28 f)e Belcfoet) Dtsctph. 
 
 Through his mother, he sought the very 
 highest place in Christ's kingdom; to sit 
 immediately on the right or left of the Kingly 
 Messiah. And when opposing Jews appeared 
 before Christ, John was for calling down 
 fire swift from heaven to destroy them. So 
 that, naturally, John was ambitious and 
 impetuous. But grace humbled and subdued 
 him. The ardour of his nature was sanctified 
 and governed by love. His chariot was 
 yoked to fiery steeds that bore him towards 
 the sun that drew him straight to heaven ; 
 and he mounted, daily, higher and higher. 
 His integrity and firmness of purpose were 
 not abolished. They were only changed in 
 their object and aim. 
 
 There was a strong side in St. John, as 
 there is in all truly great men, however 
 simple and modest they may be. His writ- 
 ings show this. Some of the strongest 
 language is found in them; declaring that 
 " whosoever hateth his brother is a mur- 
 derer;" that "he that committeth sin is 
 of the devil;" and that "if a man say, I
 
 flHje Belobeti Bfectple. 29 
 
 love God, and hateth his brother, he is a 
 liar." His calm survey of the visions of the 
 Apocalypse is evidence of it ; and his patient 
 endurance of suffering " for the word of God, 
 and for the testimony of Jesus Christ," cor- 
 roborates it. To say nothing of early tra- 
 dition, which reports that he indignantly 
 refused to continue in a public bath with 
 Cerinthus, the heretic, lest the building should 
 fall and crush that enemy of the Lord ; or of 
 his being cast into a caldron of boiling oil by 
 order of Domitian, who afterwards banished 
 him to Patmos ; and how, in old age, he 
 braved exposure to a band of notorious 
 robbers on the mountains, to recover from 
 among them a prodigal convert, who had 
 become their chief; to say nothing of these 
 traditionary evidences from almost apostolic 
 times, it is evident from the Scriptures that 
 he was firmly and perseveringly obedient. 
 It is a false idea that calm, contemplative 
 men are weak and infirm of purpose. The 
 lion and the leopard are gentle in their 
 usual movements as the lamb. The stormy
 
 30 &tj Bclofacfc Disciple. 
 
 sea that roars and is troubled, lifting up its 
 waves for destruction, often rests as serenely 
 in its bed as an infant. Deep rivers do 
 not babble like the shallow brook. And 
 often the strongest and most earnestly per- 
 severing men are in their ordinary manner 
 as simple as children. They do not spend 
 their strength in noisy professions, but in 
 real practical service. It was so with St. 
 John. He wavered not in his course. He 
 never left the Saviour from the hour of his 
 call by the Jordan. He was with Jesus daily ; 
 and to the end was a faithful and obedient 
 disciple. He was in the judgment-hall ; 
 stood by the cross ; and, firm to his purpose, 
 he continued to tarry in suffering and obedi- 
 ence for seventy long years, until Christ came 
 to receive him to Himself. He taught, and 
 suffered, and laboured through this prolonged 
 period, opposing error, correcting heresy, 
 instructing and warning the church, per- 
 severingly obedient to the commands of his 
 Master; and was thus "the disciple whom 
 Jesus loved."
 
 &fje BtlofatJ Siscfple. 31 
 
 And decision of character stern, resolute, 
 persevering obedience marked DR. HANNAH, 
 as much, as gentleness and modesty. They 
 who viewed him as a man void of strong 
 feeling did not know him. His indignation 
 at meanness, forwardness, and selfishness 
 was powerful indeed. His rebukes for mis- 
 conduct and disobedience were terrible : not 
 in fierce, jagged words, but in solemnity of 
 tone and earnestness. It was Love reprov- 
 ing. It was oil on fire. It was purity kindled 
 against impropriety and sin. Disturbers of 
 the church, injurious persons, never had 
 more solemn and condemnatory remonstrances 
 from any lips than from his. He could be 
 angry and sin not ; and, like the apostle 
 John, he would not dwell with sinners. DR. 
 HANNAH was no pliant weakling. He was 
 a firm and unflinching promoter of what 
 was right and good; and he was an open 
 and bold denunciator of what was false and 
 wicked. He was a resolute opponent of 
 Popery, wherever it appeared ; whether 
 among its own professed adherents, or among
 
 82 STije BclobrtJ Disciplr. 
 
 those bearing the name and inheriting the 
 immunities of Protestantism. He alike con- 
 demned ceremonial Ritualism on the one 
 hand, and sceptical Rationalism on the other. 
 His love to Christ, and his zeal for his 
 Divine Lord's honour, ensured this. Fidelity 
 
 i 
 
 to the Saviour, to whom he had devoted 
 his mind and heart, required it ; and he was 
 resolute and determined in obedience. And 
 in all the Divine requirements he sought 
 to be faithful. He had "respect to all God's 
 commandments," and that to the end of life. 
 Who ever beheld in him anything discreditable 
 to the religion he professed ? Whenever did 
 he, by word or deed, cause the enemy to 
 blaspheme ? Who ever suspected him of want 
 of integrity, truth, or righteousness ? Whose 
 character was not safe in his keeping? 
 Whose reputation suffered through him ? I 
 am not intending to utter for him unqualified 
 praise, or to be understood as representing 
 him as absolutely perfect, and in no respects 
 defective. That belongs not to any mortal ; 
 and to overpraise is, practically, to detract
 
 JBiscfpIe. 33 
 
 from merit. It is to commit what has been 
 designated among men " the unpardonable 
 sin." 
 
 The sun has its spots, and DE. HANNAH 
 had his defects. His guileless, unsuspecting 
 nature, sometimes, was open to imposition ; 
 and, perhaps, he needed more of the wisdom 
 of the serpent, associated with the harmless- 
 ness of the dove. And his extreme sensi- 
 bility, and feminine tenderness, now and then 
 exposed him to unnecessary pain and grief. 
 Harsh, unfeeling manner, and strong words 
 uttered in the heat of debate, wounded him ; 
 and though he might not complain, yet he 
 would retire and brood over what had been 
 said or done. But morally and religiously 
 before man while, like the best of human 
 beings, defective and denied before God he 
 was in Christian deportment and conduct 
 " unblamable," as the Scripture terms it. As 
 in St. John, so also in him, there was sym- 
 metry and maturity of Christian character. 
 His obedience to the Master's commands was 
 uniform, constant, and to the end. He was 
 
 D
 
 :*4 3Tfjc Bclobrt Btsctplc. 
 
 faithful unto death, and thus was " the 
 disciple whom Jesus loved." 
 
 To trace the course of one so excellent, 
 and to note the circumstances in which he 
 obtained the moral likeness and distinguished 
 love of Jesus, will now be our pleasing em- 
 ployment. But, before we proceed to this, 
 it may be well for us to sing together part of 
 the 51st hymn : 
 
 " Hark ! a voice divides the sky, 
 
 Happy are the faithful dead ! 
 In the Lord who sweetly die, 
 
 They from all their toils are freed. 
 Them the Spirit hath declared 
 
 Blest, unutterably blest : 
 Jesus is their great Reward, 
 
 Jesus is their endless Rest. 
 
 " Follow'd by their works, they go 
 
 Where their Head hath gone before ; 
 Reconciled by grace below, 
 
 Grace had open'd Mercy's door ; 
 Justified through faith alone, 
 
 Hero they knew their sins forgiven ; 
 Here they laid their burden down, 
 
 Hallow'd and made meet for heaven. "
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL 
 SKETCH. 
 
 HB- 
 
 DOCTOR HANNAH was born at Lincoln, 
 November 3, 1792, in a house situated 
 soutli of the water-side, near the " Swing 
 Bridge," where his father resided, as a 
 maltster and corn-merchant; which house, 
 together with adjoining premises, since im- 
 proved and built upon at the formation of 
 " Melville- street," leading from the new 
 bridge to the Cliff-road, the son possessed 
 and valued to the end of life, as his paternal 
 inheritance. 
 
 His father, Mr. John Hannah, was origin- 
 ally from Faldingworth, in Lincolnshire, 
 where he was born in the month of March, 
 1747. Afterwards he removed with his 
 parents to Toft-Newton, in the same county, 
 
 D2
 
 36 )r. f^annafj's jfatfjcr. 
 
 and spent there the early part of his life in 
 husbandry with his father, who was a farmer. 
 According to a manuscript record from the 
 hand of the deceased, his grandparents on 
 the father's side were strictly moral and 
 upright in their conduct ; and as soon as they 
 had the opportunity of hearing the saving 
 truth of the Gospel, they cordially embraced 
 it. Their son, DR. HANNAH'S father, was 
 early the subject of religious influence. 
 When little more than seven years of age, 
 he heard the Rev. Thomas Hanby, an early 
 Methodist Preacher; and was brought by 
 what he heard nigh to the kingdom of God. 
 When twenty years old, by the instrument- 
 ality of the Rev. John Peacock, an eminently 
 good man, and an earnest preacher of the 
 Gospel, he was joined to a Methodist class- 
 meeting for Christian fellowship and counsel. 
 And thus, under the teaching of religious ex- 
 perience, the best teaching he could have, 
 he was impelled to seek acceptance with 
 God through Jesus Christ, until he found it, 
 and consciously rejoiced in the favour of the
 
 t$J Parental Example. 37 
 
 Most High. Some years after this, DR. 
 HANNAH'S father became impressed with the 
 necessity of baptism by immersion, and united 
 himself with the General Baptists who wor- 
 shipped behind St. Benedict's church in this 
 city. And, in the humble burial-ground, there 
 he and his wife, the mother of DR. HANNAH, 
 have their last earthly resting-place. 
 
 DR. HANNAH'S father ever retained a love 
 for the Methodists, among whom he had been 
 brought to a saving knowledge of the truth. 
 And, on their establishment in Lincoln, he 
 cast in his lot with them; and from thence 
 to the end of life worshipped with them in 
 their first chapel by the water-side, near to 
 his residence, and availed himself of their 
 most spiritual means and ordinances. Ac- 
 cording to his son's record of him in a 
 paper written three weeks after the father's 
 death, he was a plain, unpretentious man, 
 remarkably diffident and retiring ; but pos- 
 sessed a good understanding ; and was careful 
 to furnish his mind by diligent study of 
 history, geography, and scriptural theology.
 
 38 a $h'ou0 fHotfjcr. 
 
 He was attentive to parental obligations, as 
 also to the closet-duties of religion ; and 
 regularly read the Scriptures and prayed in 
 his family twice on each day, seeking to train 
 up his children in the way in which they 
 should go. He increasingly matured in 
 Christian character until November 3, 1817, 
 when, somewhat suddenly, but smiling with 
 joyous hope, he passed to his eternal rest. 
 
 DR. HANNAH'S mother was not the first 
 wife of his father. Her name was Elizabeth 
 Young; and after her marriage with Mr. 
 John Hannah she became his cheerful and 
 devout associate, both in personal and domes- 
 tic piety. She died early, about the year 
 1798 or 9, according to the crumbling record 
 on the family grave- stones, in the old Baptist 
 burial-ground, where she is described as John 
 Hannah's second wife. From the old Bible- 
 Registry it appears that by this second mar- 
 riage there were five children, among whom 
 DR. HANNAH was one of the youngest. 
 
 Thus DR. HANNAH'S early childhood and 
 youth were spent under the immediate in-
 
 antJ Studious Bogfjooti. 39 
 
 fluence of godly example and scriptural 
 instruction ; and when very young the fear 
 of God was strong within him. Some 
 youthful acts of disobedience are related of 
 him ; such as stealing out of chapel, after 
 he had heard the text, so as to be able to 
 repeat it at home when he should be asked 
 to do so, and then, with Sabbath-breaking 
 boys, repairing to his father's garden, climb- 
 ing an apple-tree for fruit, and breaking his 
 wrist by a heavy fall to the ground. But, 
 generally speaking, his youth was marked 
 by dutiful obedience to his parents, and by 
 strict propriety of conduct. Like his father, 
 he was exceedingly shy and retiring. He 
 shunned company, rather than sought it ; and 
 in his boyhood he was noted for thoughtful 
 and studious habits. To be fully out of 
 view, he would climb up into a thickly - 
 
 shaded tree with his book, and read it 
 
 i 
 
 uninterruptedly, astride on one of its stronger 
 boughs, and under its over-hanging branches ; 
 or, he would leave his bed before sunrise, 
 walk over the fields and the "Common" to
 
 40 lEtwcatton anli Scfjolarefjtp. 
 
 Canwick, that before the world was astir 
 he might have full and free scope for thought 
 and reflection. 
 
 He was evidently a favourite with his 
 step-mother, who supplied him with money 
 for the purchase of books. It is said that 
 the Kev. Daniel Isaac was his first school- 
 master ; but that fear of Mr. Isaac's severity 
 induced his father to remove John early to 
 another for instruction. The family relate 
 that a Mr. Andrewes was his first school- 
 master; and that afterwards, for education, 
 he was with Mr. Bainbridge, and then with 
 the Kev. Mr. Gray, one of the vicars of the 
 Cathedral. At first he was slow to learn, 
 notwithstanding his strong desire for know- 
 ledge : but afterwards he made rapid 
 progress ; so that his clerical instructor, 
 who was one of the best classical scholars 
 in the county, declared that he was his first 
 pupil in English and Greek. His grounding 
 in English, Hebrew, and the classic languages 
 was thorough ; and his mind was disciplined 
 by early study of mathematics. In manhood
 
 Conbersion to (50tf. 41 
 
 he was diligent in building upon these 
 firm foundations ; so that he became a 
 really good and highly-accomplished scholar, 
 worthy of the designation of "a learned 
 man." To his latest years he retained the 
 habit of early rising for study; and to the 
 end of his days he was diligently adding to 
 his stores of various knowledge ; so that his 
 mind was filled with the most valuable in- 
 formation, which he copiously poured forth 
 for the interest and profit of others. 
 
 The particular circumstances belonging to 
 his conversion to God are not known. He 
 was not accustomed, in the modesty of his 
 nature, to speak of himself; and others are 
 not able now to mark the several steps 
 which led to this all-important change. His 
 case was one of gradual and increasing 
 illumination by the Holy Spirit. He was not 
 suddenly brought out of darkness into light. 
 From his youth up he feared the Lord; and 
 though there was with him, as in all who 
 are born of God, a distinct moment when 
 he passed from death unto life, yet, under
 
 42 Earlg ${rtg. 
 
 the increasing impartation of Divine teach- 
 ing and influence, the instant of time when 
 he was " born again" was not in his 
 case so apparent as in some others. But 
 when by the " assurance of faith," and the 
 " witness of the Spirit," he knew that he had 
 found acceptance, and been made, for Christ's 
 sake, a child of God, he rejoiced with the 
 humble and adoring joy already described. 
 This was at the age of seventeen years. The 
 inspired description of the youth of Samuel 
 seems to be beautifully applicable to him : 
 " The child grew on, and was in favour both 
 with the Lord, and also with men." (1 Sam. 
 ii. 26.) The knowledge of his own case, as 
 well as that of his father, made him 
 specially careful through life not to limit the 
 Holy Spirit's modes of operation in conver- 
 sion. While emphatically and unmistakably 
 insisting on an inward and spiritual change, 
 which must have its decisive time of occur- 
 rence, yet he did not teach or require that 
 in all cases, without exception, the precise 
 moment of that change must necessarily be
 
 pjabits of Prager. 43 
 
 known by him who experiences it. He deemed 
 it sufficient, in these cases of gradual enlight- 
 enment and of Divine drawings, that it be 
 known by the Spirit's testimony within, and 
 by the Spirit's fruits without, that the great 
 change has been accomplished. 
 
 For securing growth in grace, DR. HANNAH 
 attentively sought the aid of religious means 
 and ordinances. He daily searched the 
 Scriptures that he might become wise unto 
 salvation. He prayed in the family ; though 
 at first, in his diffidence, he imposed the 
 condition that, in doing so, he should kneel 
 apart in an adjoining room, from which, 
 unseen by him, they could hear his voice. 
 He often entered into his closet, shut the 
 door, and prayed to his Father who seeth 
 in secret, and rewardeth openly. He regu- 
 larly attended public worship, and eagerly 
 drank in the sincere milk of the word. 
 He weekly met with them "that feared 
 the Lord, spake often one to another, and 
 that thought upon His name." In 1809 he 
 was a member of old Mr. Brumby's class,
 
 44 fflcetg in $rtbate Ban*. 
 
 which met in his father's house, and which 
 formerly was led by Mr. Smith. And when, 
 afterwards, Mr. Bainbridge became a class- 
 leader, DR. HANNAH associated himself with 
 his early friend and adviser, and his name was 
 enrolled second in Mr. Bainbridge's class-list. 
 To secure more intimate Christian communion 
 on the dealings of God with the souls of His 
 people, he met in weekly private band, on 
 Sunday morning at six o'clock, before attend- 
 ing the prayer-meeting at seven, with Mr. 
 William Bacon, afterwards in the Methodist 
 ministry, and Mr. William Parker, after- 
 wards his brother-in-law. Spiritual self- 
 culture was what he sought earnestly and 
 diligently ; and his object was successfully 
 realized. His profiting appeared to all. 
 
 His first attempt at preaching was in a 
 cottage occupied jointly by a blind woman 
 named Mrs. Harrison, and a Miss, or, as she 
 was called, Mrs. Crofts, at the village of 
 Waddington, some five miles south of Lin- 
 coln, where at that time the Rev. Richard 
 Waldo Sibthorpe wrought assiduously as the
 
 urgrti to 
 
 parish curate, and who not unfrequently 
 seated himself on a stool in this cottage, and 
 conversed with these aged Christians on 
 experimental religion. Previously to this, 
 young John Hannah endeavoured to do good 
 as he had opportunity. He had engaged 
 publicly in prayer, though with manifest fear 
 and trembling; he had visited the sick and 
 the poor; and in a small room which he 
 hired by the water-side, near to the Magpies' 
 Inn, he had opened a Sunday-school in 
 Lincoln, where Mrs. Flint and others, at his 
 solicitation, became teachers, and which pros- 
 pered greatly. This was before the " Bank's 
 Sunday-school," afterwards built by him on 
 his own ground; and was the first Sunday- 
 school in Lincoln. But his friends, believing 
 that he was intended for a wider sphere of 
 usefulness, urged him to commence preach- 
 ing. Mr. William Mawer, and Messrs. 
 Bacon and Parker, his band- companions, 
 especially besought him to make the attempt ; 
 and, at length, accompanied by Mr. Parker, 
 he undertook this cottage-service among a
 
 46 Jtjfs Jurat Sermon, at nineteen. 
 
 few simple-minded villagers. His text on 
 the occasion was from 2 Cor. viii. 9 : " For 
 ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes 
 He became poor, that ye through His poverty 
 might be rich." His diffidence at the 
 beginning almost overcame him. To use 
 his own expression of feeling, he " thought 
 the effort would have killed him;" but he 
 grew increasingly confident as he proceeded ; 
 and, as he stated to the students in the 
 dining-hall at Didsbury shortly before his 
 death, when referring to his first sermon, 
 in its evangelical character, he then " struck 
 the key-note of his preaching for life." He 
 was at that time nineteen years of age. 
 
 Soon after this, at the urgent request of 
 the Rev. John Draper, the minister then 
 stationed in Lincoln, and on the stipulated 
 condition that it should not be previously 
 made known, he preached in the city chapel 
 by the water-side, from Luke xi. 13 : "If 
 ye then, being evil, know how to give good 
 gifts unto your children: how much more
 
 !JE must be a Pmcfjer. 47 
 
 shall your heavenly Father give the Holy 
 Spirit to them that ask Him?" This was 
 on a Wednesday evening, in 1812. The 
 impression produced by his sermon, both 
 upon minister and people, was, that he was 
 intended by the Head of the church for 
 the Christian ministry. Indeed, though 
 backward to speak of this to others, and 
 reluctant to attempt preaching, yet, incident- 
 ally, it was shown that he had an abiding 
 impression on his own mind that he was 
 designed by God to go forth into the world 
 and preach the Grospel. He was stimulated 
 to study by this impression. With it, he 
 reluctantly engaged in any earthly pursuits. 
 His father had hoped to have in him a 
 helper and successor in business ; but had 
 to relinquish this cherished hope, and to 
 yield to the entreaty of the son, that he 
 might have opportunity and means for 
 entire devotion to learning. 
 
 On one occasion, when having been much 
 longer in the performance of some assigned 
 service than necessary, his father inquired,
 
 48 abstraction of ffltntj. 
 
 " John, has this work taken you all this time ?" 
 " No, father," was the son's reply. " Then 
 what have you been doing besides?" was 
 asked. " I have been preaching, father," was 
 the answer. " How preaching ?" rejoined the 
 disconcerted sire : " you could have no con- 
 gregation where you were, but cocks and 
 hens ! " On another occasion, when under- 
 taking to grind malt, he was found bathed 
 in perspiration, and continuing to turn over 
 the handle long after all the malt put into 
 the funnel had been crushed. His father, 
 entering the maltkiln, and seeing how things 
 were, exclaimed, " John, what are you 
 doing? you are distressing yourself; and 
 there has been no malt to grind for some 
 time." "I was preaching my trial-sermon 
 before the Methodist Conference," was the 
 answer. And his preaching in the towns 
 and villages of the Lincoln Circuit, which at 
 that time also included the places since 
 separated for the Sleaford Circuit, was highly 
 acceptable. So, by the counsel of the Circuit- 
 ministers, and of highly-valued friends, then
 
 Br. Coke anto fSiimian&. 49 
 
 influential Methodists in the city, such as 
 Mr. William Mawer, Mr. Thomas Bainbridge, 
 Mr. Brumby, Mr. W. S. Parker, and others, 
 he was nominated by the superintendent- 
 minister of the Lincoln Circuit for the 
 Methodist ministry, and was cordially recom- 
 mended to the Conference for that spiritual 
 office by the Quarterly and District Meetings. 
 It must have been during the interval 
 between his recommendation for the ministry 
 and his first appointment by the Conference, 
 that a call seemed to be made upon him to 
 go with Dr. Coke to India ; a call which he 
 showed himself ready to obey. The Doctor 
 had obtained authority from the Conference to 
 take with him seven young men as companion- 
 missionaries to India. But fearing that some 
 one of those selected for this service should 
 fail him near the time of departure, he 
 inquired who were the most devoted candi- 
 dates for the ministry, in order that he might 
 readily fill up the number that might suddenly 
 become deficient. JOHN HANNAH was highly 
 recommended to him as "a most excellent 
 
 E
 
 50 ILctter to Dr. Coke; 
 
 young man for this service" as we learn 
 from letters of correspondence with Dr. 
 Clarke, then President of the Conference, 
 found among Dr. Coke's papers after his 
 death. The Doctor wrote to the youthful 
 candidate for the ministry, to inquire if he 
 would be willing to accompany him as a 
 missionary to India. JOHN HANNAH wrote to 
 Dr. Coke the following reply, dated 
 
 " Lincoln, August 10th, 1813. 
 "Rev. and Dear Sir, 
 
 "I received your first letter on Sunday night, and your 
 second last night. I rejoice to hear of your benevolent 
 purposes towards the Indians, and think you confer 
 great honour on me by inviting mo to engage with yon 
 in so glorious an undertaking. I shall certainly feel it 
 painful to leave my friends, particularly my father, 
 and to resign all my comfortable prospects in England ; 
 yet, if I be conscious that it is the will of God, I think, 
 with the assistance of His grace, I can make these 
 sacrifices. The Lord Jesus was induced for my sake to 
 lay aside the glory and felicity of heaven ; and I cannot 
 think it hard for His sake to renounce a few comforts 
 on earth. My father consents to my going. I have 
 consulted my friends on the subject ; and they unani-
 
 anto ffer to be a fKisgtottatg. 51 
 
 mously think, that if I can trust my all with God, I 
 ought to go. The chief objection I feel to it, is my 
 great deficiency in missionary abilities and in piety. 
 Did I abound in these, I think I could go with pleasure. 
 As things are, if you think proper to accept of me, 
 I must say, though with a considerable portion of 
 timidity, I am at your service. 
 
 " I shall be greatly obliged to you to inform me, 
 whether those who engage in this mission engage in it 
 for life, or not. You will, also, be so kind as to 
 mention the time when you intend to sail ; the con- 
 veniences and inconveniences attending the voyage ; 
 the preparations that are requisite on my part ; with 
 everything else that you think it necessary for me to 
 know, in order to form a clear and distinct conception 
 of the intended mission. 
 
 " The thought of going under your direction, and 
 your kind promise of being a father to me, strongly 
 incline me to comply with your request. 
 
 " Praying that God may crown your design with His 
 approbation, and make the mission abundantly success- 
 ful in diffusing the light of the Gospel among the 
 benighted Indians, 
 
 " I remain, Rev. and Dear Sir, 
 
 " Your unworthy servant in the Gospel, 
 
 " JOHN HANNAH." 
 
 This prudential arrangement by Dr. Coke 
 
 B 2
 
 52 Becomes a fHttfjolifet fflintstft. 
 
 was not carried out, no failure among the 
 missionaries engaged requiring it. But JOHN 
 HANNAH ? S letter proves that, at any cost of 
 home- comforts, family-ties, discomforts and 
 dangers of the voyage, and service abroad 
 for life, if required, he was prepared for 
 Christ's sake to go a missionary to India. 
 And in all after-life though he made no 
 boast of it, and scarcely named it it was a 
 circumstance of grateful remembrance by 
 him that, by Divine grace, he had been 
 enabled to sacrifice all personal considerations, 
 and to offer himself without reserve for the 
 service and glory of Christ. 
 
 His first appointment by the Conference 
 was to the Bruton Circuit, in Somersetshire, in 
 the year 1814 ; his next to the Gainsborough 
 Circuit, in his own county ; his next to Brid- 
 lington, in Yorkshire ; and his next to Lin- 
 coln, the Circuit which bore the name of his 
 native city. In these Circuits he ministered 
 acceptably and usefully; and from a letter 
 sent from his first Circuit to his friend Mr. 
 Bainbridge, dated March 4, 1815, it is evident
 
 Earnestness of fjis (Earlg fttmfettg. 53 
 
 that from the beginning he diligently applied 
 himself to improve the advantages of his 
 classical and mathematical education, and to 
 become "a scribe well instructed for the 
 kingdom of God." In this letter he says, 
 after referring to his general studies, and read- 
 ing of the best authors, " I am seeking to get 
 clearer views of Theology, which is my first 
 business." The Lincoln Circuit was then, as 
 now, somewhat extensive in territory, and 
 included numerous villages in its compass. 
 He walked and rode cheerfully to the villages 
 and hamlets belonging to it, carrying with 
 him books in his pockets, or in his saddle- 
 bags ; and interesting incidents are related 
 of him in those times. One is, that an 
 aged Christian woman near Saxilby awoke 
 very early one morning, and told her hus- 
 band that she must rise, make a fire, and 
 heat the kettle ; for the impression on her 
 mind that she should do so was so strong 
 that it seemed as if a voice spoke to her. 
 The husband sought to persuade her that it 
 was only a dream. She found, however, that
 
 54 TDiCtftcncc amtogt Success. 
 
 she could not rest, and so arose, made a fire, 
 and boiled the kettle. When she had done 
 so, she looked out at the door, saw some 
 person coming by the side of the river, who, 
 as he approached, showed himself to be her 
 minister, ME. HANNAH. She inquired how it 
 was that he was abroad so early. He replied, 
 that, being unwell, he was desirous of going 
 home ; and not wishing to awake the family at 
 whose house he had passed the night, he 
 had left them without making it known that 
 he did so; but that he was now faint, and 
 ready to fall. The good old woman said to 
 him, " Come in, and have some tea ; for I 
 now see why I had to rise, and get it ready." 
 He did so, and then walked briskly home. 
 
 Those of the. Lincoln Circuit now living 
 will remember the deep interest attending 
 his ministry here. The evangelical character 
 of his preaching, its fervent, glowing style, 
 and, above all, the Divine unction which 
 attended it, cannot be forgotten. His deep 
 humility and constitutional diffidence often 
 depressed him ; so that, after the delivery of
 
 Catfjoltcttjj of Spirit. 55 
 
 the most edifying discourse, lie was afraid to 
 meet his hearers in the chapel-ground; and, 
 to escape from doing so, was known to lock 
 himself up in the vestry until all had gone, and 
 he could pass unobserved to his home. But 
 his edifying and powerful sermons did much 
 to quicken and elevate Methodism in Lincoln, 
 and in the surrounding neighbourhood. Per- 
 sons of education and of considerable status 
 in society were attracted by his public ministry 
 to the chapel at St. Swithin's. "The common 
 people heard him gladly." And his loving, 
 catholic spirit shown to all followers of 
 Christ, of every name, at meetings for the 
 Bible Society and other public institutions 
 brought Wesleyans into glad and happy 
 association with pious, evangelical clergymen, 
 and devout Nonconformists of different de- 
 nominations. Those were days when the 
 good of surrounding churches were fewer, 
 and more marked in their distinctive character; 
 days when, notwithstanding the flagrant 
 immorality evinced by some even high in 
 the ministerial office, and the more open deri-
 
 56 Qr. l^amtafj's fHarrtage. 
 
 sion poured upon devoted followers of the 
 Saviour, real spiritual sympathy and essen- 
 tial union were manifested by those of the 
 several churches who had separated them- 
 selves in spirit, as well as in profession, to live 
 godly in Christ Jesus. The ministry of DR. 
 HANNAH as did also the ministry of the 
 Revs. Daniel Isaac, Thomas Galland, and John 
 Smith gave, under God, successive impulses 
 to Methodism in Lincoln, that demonstrably 
 raised it in numerical importance and also 
 in social consideration and position. Citizens 
 of all classes thronged to hear these preachers, 
 and also crowded the chapel when eminent 
 ministers such as Clarke, Bunting, Watson, 
 Lessey, and Newton officiated in it, for Mis- 
 sions, and other institutions of the Connexion. 
 DR. HANNAH married August 12, 1817, at 
 St. Swithin's church in this city, Miss Jane 
 Caparn, the sister-in-law of his friend and 
 bandmate, Mr. W. S. Parker, already named ; 
 and found in her a devoted wife, fully suited 
 to him in intelligence, goodness, and large- 
 hearted sympathy with his views and cares.
 
 true Cfjrtstian fifusbattt. 57 
 
 This " elect lady," loved and revered by all 
 who have known her, during the extended 
 period of fifty years, was to her husband a 
 true " help meet," sustaining and encouraging 
 him in all his important and responsible ser- 
 vices ; and she, " the wife of his youth," lived 
 to the end of his days, gratefully in his very 
 " heart of hearts," as his dearest earthly trea- 
 sure. It was truly beautiful to witness in 
 ripe old age his devoted affection for his wife. 
 Reverence for woman was strong in him, as it 
 is in every manly spirit ; but his " dear Jane," 
 painfully afflicted of late years, had daily his 
 first and most ardent attention. When from 
 home, post-letters by the morning's delivery 
 were eagerly seized by him, that he might 
 read first his suffering wife's epistle ; and 
 afterwards, before anything else was done, he 
 would write to his beloved one in terms 
 glowing with the enflamed ardour of pure 
 and matured affection. And when public 
 services or friendly visitations no longer 
 detained him, he expressed exultantly the 
 joyous anticipation he cherished of returning
 
 58 Character of fjt'g ^r 
 
 to Mrs. Hannah. It was ever so with him ; 
 and not the less so on his last return to her, 
 which was from my house in London, only a 
 few days before he died. 
 
 After remaining three years a minister in 
 Lincoln, he was stationed successively, for 
 three years in each place, at Nottingham, 
 Leeds, Manchester, and Huddersfield ; by 
 which he became more publicly known, and 
 more generally appreciated. The rich savour 
 of his godly character, and the Divine 
 unction which signally attended his minis- 
 tration, made him eminent; and in all those 
 towns and their surrounding districts he 
 became precious and beloved. His preaching 
 was expository and practical : it was not argu- 
 mentative. The mind of the Spirit as expressed 
 in the Scriptures was diligently sought for 
 by prayerful study, and then explicitly given. 
 It was not florid and highly-elaborated. 
 Truth, in his view, was not many-coloured, 
 but clear and transparent as the purest 
 crystal. Hence, he set it forth in its own 
 beauty, and not with tinselled adornment
 
 its Clearness anto jFaftfjfritness. 59 
 
 and cloying imagery. His style was remark- 
 ably pure and simple ; and his preaching had 
 an evident directness of aim that none could 
 misunderstand. The truth was faithfully 
 apportioned and applied to his hearers, ac- 
 cording to their respective characters ; and 
 the whole was earnestly delivered with the 
 kindled fervour of sincere earnestness, and 
 with yearning compassion over sinners whom 
 he sought to save from impending destruction. 
 His Sunday morning and week-day evening 
 sermons were almost uniformly addressed to 
 the members of the church, and were most 
 instructive and spiritually refreshing. His 
 Sunday evening sermons had, usually, a direct 
 bearing upon the state of the unconverted, 
 and were most searching and powerful. He 
 was not what would be termed, at least in this 
 sensational age, a " striking preacher." He 
 was too well-balanced in his powers, and too 
 profoundly reverent, as well as too sym- 
 metrical in his carefully-cultivated mind, to 
 utter startling extravagances, that might be 
 deemed by superficial thinkers " original "
 
 60 Completeness of fjts $reacl)tn(j. 
 
 and " effective." His imagination -was quick 
 and lively, lighting up all he said. Much of 
 poetic feeling was in him, giving vividness, 
 tone, and colouring to his style ; but all was 
 chastened, and subdued into rich mellowness, 
 by due sense of proportion and propriety. 
 Hence, all he did had a character of com- 
 pleteness, and was never wearisome by being 
 extravagantly extended. It was said and 
 done within the time allotted and done 
 well; so that all who heard him would be 
 ready to exclaim, "True and admirable!" 
 But for wonder-loving seekers of novelty and 
 eccentricities, his preaching had not the attrac- 
 tive qualities they desire. Nor was his manner 
 of delivery, according to the rules of elocu- 
 tionists and position-masters, commendable. 
 His inobtrusive timidity and natural modesty 
 made him restless and uneasy in physical atti- 
 tude and motions ; and in the earlier part of 
 his ministry, especially, he was rapid and out- 
 gushing in his pulpit-utterances. But his 
 friends and all who lovingly remember him 
 would not have changed his manner, if they
 
 P0pular(t]j of fjtg Preaching. 61 
 
 could have done so. While unsuitable as 
 models, his manner, gesture, style, and de- 
 livery were parts of himself, and were in 
 good keeping with his own thoughts and 
 feelings. 
 
 He was, however, in the only valuable 
 sense of the phrase, "a popular preacher;" 
 and that not merely for a brief shining period 
 of youthful ardour, but during the fifty-three 
 years of his ministerial life. He had not to 
 console himself as some inanimated self- 
 complacent preachers do that he had the 
 " discerning few" to hear him. He had, 
 throughout his course, large and attentive 
 congregations, composed of all classes. The 
 more thoughtful, and best educated, found 
 in his discourses scholarly and manly deal- 
 ing with the truth. He indulged in no 
 vague and cloudy speculations, such as some- 
 times give, by mystic, visionary forms, false 
 reputation for " sublimity." He shirked no 
 difficulty in the interpretation of the word 
 of God. But the truth as revealed, and as 
 understood by proper rendering, and by sin-
 
 ''- Earnestness of fjts $3rr adjimj. 
 
 cere, unbiassed minds, he proclaimed plainly 
 and openly. And his abiding sense of the 
 high responsibility of his office, as an am- 
 bassador for Christ, sent to beseech men 
 in the Saviour's stead to be reconciled to 
 Grod, kindled into high fervour the strong 
 feelings of his nature, and made him, under 
 the unction of the Spirit, lively, energetic, 
 and powerful. His calls to shiners to repent 
 and live after the text had been expounded 
 were sometimes at the full extent of his 
 voice, so that the assembly was thrilled with 
 emotion under his beseeching cries. " Bless 
 ye," said a plain man at Stockport to his 
 fellow-worshippers, on hearing him in the last 
 year of his life, " this old man has more fire 
 in him than ten of the younger preachers put 
 together that come to us in these days." 
 The ardour of his preaching never lost its 
 glow. It might not in maturer and later 
 years break forth at points into as brilliant 
 coruscations as it did in his youth ; but it 
 burned to the very end, and that, if with a 
 steadier, yet with a stronger flame. He was,
 
 tlitg in ^rager. 63 
 
 as a preacher, as well as in his Christian 
 character, " a burning and a shining light," 
 which searched the heart and conscience, as 
 well as illumined the understanding. 
 
 The devotional services of the sanctuary 
 were conducted by him with the strictest 
 order and propriety. He loved the service 
 of sacred song, and most reverently and 
 adoringly engaged in it. His public prayers 
 were tremblingly devout. A solemn sense 
 of Divine majesty was upon him, when he 
 approached the throne of grace, and led the 
 supplications of the congregations. Humility 
 and profound self-abasement were evident in 
 his confessions of sin. Reliance upon Christ's 
 atoning sacrifice and mediatorial intercession 
 was manifest in his pleadings for mercy. 
 Knowledge of human life and character, in 
 its varieties of temptation, anxiety, and 
 suffering, was shown in his petitions for 
 growth in grace, and for seasonable strength 
 and consolation. Love of his nation, loyalty 
 to his sovereign and government, concern for 
 all classes of the community, and com-
 
 64 Difaine Unction in 
 
 passionate interest in distant tribes and 
 nations of heathen and idolatrous men, were 
 expressed and made known in his public 
 prayers, as well as his earnest desire for the 
 immediate awakening and conversion of the 
 unregenerate around him. And there were 
 times, memorable with many who were privi- 
 leged to worship with him in public, when he 
 seemed to reach the very mercy-seat, and to 
 be adoring and pleading amidst the beaming 
 glory of the Divine presence, under the out- 
 stretched wings of the cherubim ; as there 
 were also times in his preaching when his 
 face seemed to shine with the radiance of the 
 bright cloud which overshadowed him. His 
 reading of the word of God was deliberate 
 and emphatic. He read it with the reverence 
 due to its Author, and not as a mere 
 " lesson" that had to be gone through. And 
 at the end of the service he reserved time 
 for praying over the principal truths set forth 
 in his sermon; seeking with the devout of 
 the congregation, who " helped him together 
 with their prayers," that the Holy Spirit
 
 Sociable m isposftfcn. G5 
 
 would apply and render effectual the word 
 that had been preached. Devotion, indeed, 
 was the element of his being. He lived and 
 moved in it. He never trifled with spiritual 
 things, nor could others do so in his presence. 
 " Thou God seest me" seemed to be written 
 upon his heart ; and in public worship, as in 
 private life, he was always reverent and devout. 
 In social gatherings of the members of 
 the churches, and on the platform at public 
 meetings, DB. HANNAH often appeared. Not- 
 withstanding his natural diffidence and retir- 
 ing modesty, he was truly sociable in his 
 character. He was no stern ascetic, shrink- 
 ing from society, as if it could not be touched 
 without contamination. He was a cheerful, 
 loving Christian, who enjoyed the company of 
 his fellow-Christians ; and he was too earnest 
 in his desire for the extension of the Saviour's 
 kingdom, both at home and abroad, to be un- 
 willing to take part in its advocacy. Few men, 
 in charge of a special department of the work 
 of Grod, appeared so frequently in public to 
 plead for the various institutions of the church. 
 
 F
 
 6C platform Speaking. 
 
 Foreign and Home Missions, the erection 
 of chapels, education in Sunday and Week- 
 day schools, and charitable agencies for the 
 sick and the poor, all had, in turn, his 
 ready and cheerful aid. And, whether for 
 preaching or social and platform speaking, he 
 would go where help was needed, whatever 
 the character and position of the place. The 
 humblest village or hamlet, equally with the 
 town or metropolis, shared his presence and 
 service. He had no great spasmodic efforts, 
 that for appreciable return must have im- 
 mense crowds as witnesses of the wonder. 
 He loved village-preaching. He remembered 
 his agricultural ancestry, and his cottage- 
 services in Lincolnshire ; and he was a real 
 admirer of country scenery and life; while 
 his just appreciation of the relative import- 
 ance of large towns and cities secured his 
 interest in them ; and the love of Christ 
 " constrained him" in all instances. Exeter- 
 Hall had him often at its Missionary Anni- 
 versaries ; but country towns and villages 
 had him oftener.
 
 Stgle 0f 
 
 His speeches, like his sermons, were re- 
 markably thorough and complete. Neither 
 in the pulpit nor on the platform was he a 
 memoriter speaker. To him, memoriter de- 
 livery of previously prepared composition 
 would have been mental bondage not to be 
 borne. He knew, also, that such exercises 
 train the mind unequally, and employ its 
 powers unhealthily, straining the memory 
 beyond proportionate use, and leaving other im- 
 portant faculties comparatively unemployed ; 
 so that, as years advance, the mind weakens 
 and becomes increasingly disposed to rest 
 upon early compositions, without giving out, 
 as it ought, the accumulations of knowledge 
 and experience. He knew the necessity and 
 value of written composition for forming the 
 style in public speaking ; and in earlier life 
 he had paid careful attention to this. But 
 he held, and said truly, that the finished style 
 of written composition is not the natural nor 
 most effective style of preaching or public 
 speaking ; that a more homely, free, and 
 more direct style of address belongs both to 
 
 F2
 
 68 fRotJe of preparation. 
 
 the pulpit and to the platform, than to the 
 written composition, a style that leaves the 
 preacher and speaker at liberty to interject 
 explanations, illustrations, and observations, as 
 they may occur to him at the time. Prepara- 
 tion by stored information, not from mere 
 book-reading, but from truths and facts, 
 however obtained, well thought out, and by 
 arrangement of order and connection in 
 which to be presented, is far preferable DR. 
 HANNAH thought to written words which 
 have to be exactly repeated. The embodiment 
 and dress of spontaneous language will be 
 he believed more fresh and effective than 
 formal, stereotyped terms, however well- 
 chosen and nicely - balanced ; that what 
 seems lost of verbal accuracy by free delivery, 
 will be more than compensated for, in terse 
 and effective power; and that the best pre- 
 paration for preaching and public speaking 
 consists in the solid and complete marshalling 
 of thoughts, rather than in the mere arrange- 
 ment of words. 
 
 This was DR. HANNAH'S mode of prepara-
 
 Spontaneous Beli&etjj. 69 
 
 tion. His sermons were carefully written out 
 in tlieir plan and several divisions ; having 
 the principal facts and observations to be 
 made briefly noted in their intended connec- 
 tions ; but the clothing of thought, and the 
 form of observation, were, for the most part, 
 left to spontaneous effort at the time of 
 delivery. And this gave continuous freshness 
 and increasing serviceableness to his sermons 
 and public addresses as he advanced in life. 
 He did not simply repeat in old age what he 
 had learned in youth. He gave to his hearers 
 the increase which he had obtained by read- 
 ing, observation, reflection, and experience. 
 Hence, the trial-sermon which he preached 
 more than fifty years before in the old chapel 
 by the water-side at Lincoln, in its general 
 arrangement and matter, was the same 
 which he preached in City-road chapel, on 
 the last metropolitan anniversary for Missions 
 which he attended; but the filling up and 
 the practical observations were added on the 
 occasion. 
 
 Addresses and speeches he did not prepare
 
 70 EeatJt'ncss for Speaking. 
 
 in writing. He pondered principal topics in 
 his well-disciplined mind. He was not a 
 " book- worm ;" and though a diligent, yet he 
 was not a voracious reader, filling his mental 
 capacity with the lumber of other men's 
 thoughts and reflections, until it could not 
 move or exercise itself freely. His memory, 
 like that of most great and learned men, 
 was exact and tenacious ; and his avowed 
 purpose was to know thoroughly what he 
 learned, or professed to receive. With this 
 purpose, he was a man of reflection, 
 rather than of hard reading. And when he 
 had viewed any subject in itself, and in its 
 different bearings and connections, and 
 revolved it in his mind, he could produce 
 it at will, and clothe and adorn it as he 
 would. Hence, he was one of the most 
 ready and most effective speakers that could 
 be heard. He never refused to speak in 
 public on the ground that he was not pre- 
 pared to do so. His resources were always 
 at command. Nor did he ever complain 
 that they who had spoken before had
 
 ^Extemporaneous 3loquence. 71 
 
 taken away Ms speech. He was a generous 
 associate in public speaking. He did not 
 seek to outshine others, or complain of his 
 position in the meeting. Much less did he 
 meanly endeavour to depreciate what others 
 had said, that he might appear the abler man. 
 He was too noble in spirit for that, He ever 
 refriembered the apostolic injunction, " In 
 honour preferring one another;" and he was 
 always ready to hail a successful labourer, 
 and to rejoice in his acceptance and success. 
 
 I have been associated with him in almost 
 every variety of public service ; and, in our 
 intimacy, we opened, unreservedly, our private 
 manuscripts to each other ; and my deliberate 
 and confident conclusion is, that DR. HANNAH 
 was the most eloquent and finished extempo- 
 raneous speaker that I have known. I have 
 not only heard him speak in social meetings, 
 when unexpectedly called upon to do so ; 
 or in Preparatory Committee meetings, on 
 topics of a resolution just handed to him ; 
 but I have been with him in large, influential, 
 and representative meetings, where a visitor
 
 72 Botonrss toitfj tfje Erutfj. 
 
 had to speak for a full hour on subjects, 
 and addresses presented, which had not been 
 so much as named until there introduced, or 
 read ; and I never knew him at fault on his 
 subject, break a figure or image, or trip in his 
 sentences. Like himself, and like all he did, 
 there was completeness and brightness in 
 his speeches. He spoke freely and unosten- 
 tatiously, out of a full heart and mind, 
 swayed by love to God and love to man ; 
 and he was always lively and powerful. 
 Some of his most admired deliverances, on 
 the most delicate and solemn occasions, such 
 as addresses in funeral services for eminent 
 ministers deceased, were strictly spontaneous 
 and unpremeditated in form. I had full 
 means of knowing this, and in more than one 
 instance. And so in other cases that might 
 be specified, for public speaking DR. HANNAH 
 was a highly-gifted and eminently-endowed 
 servant of the Lord ; and though naturally 
 timid and retiring in himself, so as to 
 constrain him in manner, yet confident in 
 God and sure of the truth he declared boldly
 
 Qualifications for ILiterarg JSerbice. 73 
 
 what he had to proclaim, both in public 
 speaking and in preaching. 
 
 For literary service he was well qualified, 
 if he could have pursued it. His Lives of the 
 Revs. David Stoner and Theophilus Lessey; 
 his Letter to a Junior Minister ; his Inaugural 
 Address at Didsbury; his beautiful Essay on 
 " The Sabbath a Happy Day," included in a 
 volume of Essays on the Christian Sabbath 
 published in Scotland ; and also the several 
 Memoirs and Sermons published in the Wes- 
 leyan Magazine or separately, show what he 
 could have done if he had been favoured with 
 "learned leisure." But the incessant hard work 
 of Methodism does not allow this indulgence 
 to its ministers ; and it is only by snatches of 
 time, in the midst of other pressing service, 
 that they can prepare anything for the press. 
 
 It will readily be supposed that one so 
 good, so gifted, so well furnished, and so " apt 
 to teach," would be selected by his brethren 
 for special service and for honourable position. 
 Hence, when the time had arrived spoken of 
 by Wesley in his earliest Conferences, by
 
 74 (Cfjosen JEfjcoIogical 2Tutor. 
 
 formally asking, ""When shall we have a 
 seminary for labourers?" -to which he 
 replied, in his own characteristic style of 
 terse, sententious brevity, " When God gives 
 us a Tutor;" and a .Theological Institution 
 was resolved upon, DR. HANNAH was at once, 
 and without dissentient opinion, chosen to be 
 the Theological Tutor. This was in 1834, 
 when he was removed from Liverpool North 
 Circuit to London, that he might take this 
 important office. The Institution was com- 
 menced in an unpretentious manner. The 
 name of " College " was not taken for it. 
 For not only was there prejudice by some 
 against it, through fear of learned exalta- 
 tion and trained formality ; but it was 
 evident that in the circumstances and ar- 
 rangements of Methodism, in its supply 
 and employment of its agency, full collegiate 
 education and training could not be given to 
 its accepted candidates for the ministry. A 
 plain, humble building was hired at Hoxton, 
 which had been used by the Congregationalists 
 for the education of their students; and
 
 Commences fjts ^Lectures. 75 
 
 while the old dilapidated buildings were put 
 into tenantable repair, the students were met 
 by DR. HANNAH in the room adjoining City- 
 road chapel. Afterwards, when full pre- 
 parations had been made, the students were 
 lodged at Hoxton, under the venerable and 
 fatherly Joseph Entwisle, and with an 
 efficient English and Classical Tutor. DE. 
 HANNAH there commenced his regular course 
 of lectures, advising on his subjects and 
 plan with his friend and neighbour, Dr. 
 Bunting, the President of the Institution ; 
 for whose signal ability, seasonable counsels, 
 and disinterested services he cherished to the 
 end of life admiring and grateful remem- 
 brances. The first company of students re- 
 ceived for preparatory education and training 
 were, on the whole, of superior mental 
 capacity, and truly stimulative and encourag- 
 ing to their instructors. 
 
 Afterwards, until the new Institution- 
 buildings were provided at Richmond and 
 Didsbury, the students were accommodated 
 at Abney - House, Stoke - Newington ; and
 
 76 bjecte of tfye Enstituttcn. 
 
 there, for the time, DR. HANNAH gave to them 
 theological instruction : his friend and col- 
 league, the Rev. John Farrar, being Governor 
 and Classical Tutor. 
 
 The principles held by him and its foun- 
 ders, for the government and objects of the 
 Theological Institution, may be best learned 
 from his own Inaugural Address, delivered in 
 the college- chapel at Didsbury on the open- 
 ing of the session after the Conference of 
 1860. They are declared therein to be, 
 first, to nurture and promote the Students' 
 personal Christianity; second, to lead their 
 minds to a fuller apprehension of the grand 
 system of Christianity in its several parts, 
 and in its own entire harmony ; third, to 
 supply aids in literature and science, as far 
 as time and opportunity allow, for the more 
 successful investigation of Scriptural Truth ; 
 and, fourth, to encourage and guide the 
 Students' practical services. These prin- 
 ciples he acted upon, and these objects he 
 pursued, with eminent ability, resolute 
 fidelity, and persevering zeal. Having been
 
 Personal Ikgolbes. 77 
 
 appointed to this service, he resolved, in 
 dependence upon Divine strength, to perform 
 it to the utmost of his ability. A letter 
 written by him to a friend at Lincoln, (Mr. 
 Bainbridge,) just after he had been appointed 
 to the office of Theological Tutor by the 
 Conference of 1834, shows the spirit in 
 which he entered upon his duties. In it he 
 observes : "So now I start life anew. My 
 appointment to the office which you mention 
 was to me an object of painful apprehension, 
 rather than of desire. It has, however, taken 
 place. I could easily indulge in melancholy 
 reflections on my own unfitness and incom- 
 petency ; but what would these avail ? An 
 important object is set before me. I have an 
 opportunity of rendering some assistance to 
 those who shall bear the torch of evangelical 
 light and salvation into distant parts of our 
 dark world. A truce to unavailing regrets 
 and fears ! I will trust in God. I will go 
 forth in His name and strength to this new 
 enterprise. Appalling suggestions may be 
 uttered; they have been uttered. I heed
 
 78 Successful m (Sec. 
 
 them not. Without any contrivance or 
 seeking of my own, I am called by an 
 authority which claims my obedience to 
 essay this service. I will essay it ; and if I 
 fail, it shall not be in flight, but in effort 
 how feeble and ineffective soever it may 
 prove for the honour and glory of our 
 Saviour." (Dated August 26, 1834.) 
 
 How he prosecuted his duties, and how he 
 succeeded in the attainment of his objects, 
 needs no recital. Having drawn out his 
 scheme for lectures, to comprehend the Evi- 
 dences, the Doctrines, the Duties, and the In- 
 stitutions of Christianity, he delivered them 
 in their course to the students committed to 
 him for instruction, according to their re- 
 spective years : not in a cold, professional 
 manner ; but with all the animation and 
 fervour, and with all the directness of aim 
 and application, which characterized his 
 preaching. Filling up the prepared outline 
 from his affluent resources as he went along, 
 he kindled into heated fervour that awakened 
 respondent feeling in the students before
 
 lEnliearrt to Stutents. 79 
 
 him ; so that the theological lectures delivered 
 by DR. HANNAH became means of spiritual 
 grace to himself and to them that heard him. 
 The power of Christianity, as well as its 
 truth and harmony, was thus realized ; and 
 those whom he addressed were made to feel 
 as they hearkened to him, that experimental 
 godliness was supremely important. This, no 
 doubt, was a main reason of the strong and 
 universal attachment to him, personally, by 
 the students who had been associated with 
 him. In addition to his gentle goodness, 
 which could not fail to win affection, it was 
 evident that he felt deep personal interest in 
 the students individually. He perseveringly 
 sought their welfare and advancement, both 
 in religious character and qualifications for 
 usefulness. Faithful to rebuke uppisJiness 
 and shallow pretensions, and to express the 
 strongest indignation at unbecoming conduct, 
 yet he was ever ready to acknowledge real 
 merit where it appeared, and to encourage 
 all who sought to improve their time and 
 opportunities in preparing for the ministry.
 
 80 j&cfocre jFamtlg Bmabcmrntg. 
 
 Loving them for Christ's sake, and for the 
 sacred work to which they were designated, 
 he was beloved in return with filial, reverent, 
 and enduring affection. He served in this 
 important office thirty-three years ; being 
 eight years Theological Tutor at Hoxton and 
 at Stoke-Newington, and twenty-five years at 
 Didsbury, from the opening of the Northern 
 Branch there in 1842. 
 
 ' Both in the time of his work as a Circuit- 
 minister, and during his employment as Theo- 
 logical Tutor, he suffered painfully through 
 afflictions and bereavements in his familv. 
 
 w 
 
 Of eight children born to him, seven were 
 removed by death ; and one, especially, under 
 the most sad and trying circumstances, 
 through a fall down stairs. Stroke after 
 stroke fell upon him in his earthly pilgrimage, 
 wounding him to the quick as a man and a 
 father, until he had to exclaim, " Have pity 
 upon me, my friends ; for the hand of the 
 Lord hath touched me." At the loss of the 
 seventh that of his son Richard Watson, 
 a most promising youth in his thirteenth
 
 Submission before (Sao. 81 
 
 year, who died of fever lie wrote a most 
 touching letter to the Rev. Lancelot Sharpe, 
 master of St. Saviour's School, who had 
 taken pleasure in observing the progress of 
 the youth while under his care ; and who at 
 his death wrote a letter of sympathy and 
 condolence to the bereaved parents. In 
 acknowledging this letter, DR. HANNAH, at 
 the close of his reply, says : "I cannot ever 
 forget what I owe to you in behalf of my 
 children. But I have no more whom I may 
 have the happiness of placing under your 
 care. Poor Richard ! he is the seventh child 
 that has, in God's merciful chastisement, 
 been taken from us ; and there is but one 
 left. May it please God to preserve and 
 bless him !" 
 
 But, though smitten thus severely, he did 
 not complain, as the extract just given 
 shows. And in his own handwriting is the 
 proof, if it were needed, that under this 
 heavy dispensation he bowed submissively 
 to the Divine will. The writing is as follows, 
 with its heading : 
 
 G
 
 82 Prrgtberance unfcet Suffering. 
 
 " A FATHER'S PRAYER OF SURRENDER. 
 
 " May Almighty God, the great Father of the whole 
 human family, Who has confided to us the care of this 
 dear child for a season, and Who now calls him from us, 
 receive him in mercy to Himself, and bless him with 
 His own eternal presence, through Jesus Christ our 
 Lord. Amen." 
 
 When he suffered this deep bereavement, 
 and wrote the above, he resided at No. 8, 
 Myddelton-square, now occupied by Rev. Dr. 
 Hoole, senior secretary for our Missionary 
 Society, in a house precious to Methodism; 
 for in it resided, successively, Dr. Townley and 
 Dr. Bunting; and in it the Rev. Richard 
 Watson passed from earth to heaven. 
 
 Chastened and sorrowful, he held on his 
 way as theological instructor ; and the effect 
 of his services in this office upon the 
 Methodist ministry cannot be over-esti- 
 mated. Considering not only that he was 
 the first Theological Tutor, and shaped the 
 course, generally, of those who shall follow 
 him, showing to them, and to the Methodist 
 community, what may be done by judicious
 
 of fjig 2Ti)Eolflj3tcal instructions. 83 
 
 and faithful service to prepare accepted can- 
 didates for our ministry; considering, also, 
 that a full generation of not less than 
 four hundred ministers received their theo- 
 logical education and training from him ; how 
 extensively important have been the results 
 of his labours ! Imagine what different results 
 would have appeared, if he had been uncer- 
 tain in doctrine, and less watchful over the 
 spirit and conduct of the four hundred minis- 
 ters of Methodism directly instructed and 
 influenced by him. Think how students 
 immediately from him have gone forth to 
 preach the word, and to feed and govern the 
 church of God, not only in our Circuits at 
 home, but into distant parts of the habitable 
 globe. Methodism begun and carried on for 
 more than thirty years past in all quarters of 
 the globe, and almost among all nations of 
 the earth, has, to a large extent, its type and 
 mould from the paternal impress of DR. 
 HANNAH'S instruction and training. And that 
 is, as all will be ready to admit, the genuine 
 Wesleyan type. That character it will bear, 
 
 G2
 
 84 JFirat Fta.'t to America. 
 
 unless it yields to innovation and change that 
 shall corrupt and deteriorate it. But, where- 
 ever begun and nurtured, whether in India. 
 Africa, or the South Sea Islands, it has had 
 in its youth the face and form of scriptural 
 Christianity. The effects of this must run on 
 in successive periods, and will only be known 
 in their finality and completeness at the last 
 day. 
 
 So fully was DR. HANNAH viewed as a true 
 representative man of Methodism, that he was 
 appointed twice by his brethren to attend the 
 General Conferences, and to visit fraternally 
 the churches, of the " Methodist Episcopal 
 Church of the United States of America." 
 His first appointment was to accompany the 
 venerable Richard Reece, in 1824; and the 
 second, as the British Conference's Represent- 
 ative, in 1856. His first visit to America was 
 attended with some personal discomfort and 
 trouble ; having left at home an afflicted 
 child, which had been gradually sinking for 
 months, and which died during his absence. 
 But his personal demeanour, his fraternal
 
 Seconti Fisft, as Eepresmtattb'-. 85 
 
 addresses, and rich evangelical ministry, were 
 highly appreciated by Methodists on the other 
 side of the Atlantic ; and, as an expression 
 of that appreciation, they conferred upon 
 him from their representative College, the 
 honorary degree of Doctor in Divinity, which, 
 coming as a courteous acknowledgment of 
 public services, he gracefully accepted and 
 honourably retained. 
 
 It was my privilege to accompany him on 
 his second visit to America in 1856 ; and to 
 learn, as I companioned with him day by 
 day and night by night for nearly three 
 months, more of his personal excellence, and 
 eminent attainments and ability, than I had 
 known before. As an intimate friend and a 
 fellow-citizen, often in association and com- 
 munion with him in social life and in 
 ministerial work at home, I had previously 
 found much to admire and love in him ; but 
 in continuous life and service together for an 
 extended period, in ever-varying scenes and 
 circumstances, I beheld him in the minuter 
 details, as well as in the manly greatness, of
 
 86 Foac abet tjjt Atlantic. 
 
 his character. My own hopes of additional 
 companionship had been broken ; and domestic 
 affliction, and bereavement of an intimate 
 friend, coming suddenly, and near the time of 
 embarking for what seemed then a long 
 voyage, saddened me and made me sorrow- 
 ful. The deep tenderness of his sympathizing 
 nature was at once shown. As soon as we 
 got out to the solitary sea, he grasped my arm, 
 and paced the deck with me, pouring forth 
 words of consolation. On our first night 
 upon the deep, when the bright, piercing 
 stars overhead cast their glancing reflections 
 into the placid ocean, we walked step to step in 
 the vessel, speaking of God, of His works, and 
 of those whom we had committed, with all their 
 anxieties and pain, to His Fatherly care. We 
 prayed together in our cabin; unburdened 
 ourselves to the Lord ; and then, confiding in 
 Him, sank, each down in his berth, for repose. 
 The outpourings of his full mind and heart, 
 during the thirteen days of our passage over 
 the Atlantic, were wonderful. His recitals 
 of select and appropriate pieces of poetry ;
 
 Richness of fjis (Conversation. 87 
 
 his quotations from Jeremy Taylor, Hooker, 
 Pearson, and, above all, from the Scriptures ; 
 his references to the Wesleys, their mission 
 to Georgia, their hymns, prose-writings, 
 and labours ; his descriptions of Boardman, 
 Pilmoor, Asbury, Dr. Coke, and other pioneers 
 of Methodism in America ; his reminiscences 
 of his former visit to the United States, and 
 his expectations of what we should see, and 
 have to do, in our mission ; all this made 
 the days and nights spent upon the ocean 
 with him too short ; and, though some of them 
 were fearfully tempestuous, and imminently 
 perilous from the approximation of floating 
 icebergs, yet one would have wished them 
 prolonged for the intelligent and affectionate 
 intercourse which they secured. 
 
 On landing at New York, former friends 
 met him, and welcomed us ; and as soon as 
 "letters home" had been despatched, assur- 
 ing English friends of our safe arrival in 
 America, he was in the midst of Christian 
 brethren and friends, pouring out his mind 
 and heart to them. On the Sabbath morn-
 
 88 ut rrtbal in America. 
 
 ing he preached in Mulberry-street church, 
 with the full fervour of his sanctified nature ; 
 and in the evening he attended a Missionary 
 Meeting in the Seventh-street church, pre- 
 sided over by the venerable Dr. Bangs, the 
 early historian of Methodism in the United 
 States. After mingling some days with 
 ministers and friends in " the great city," we 
 proceeded by Philadelphia, Washington, Bal- 
 timore, and over the Alleghany Mountains, 
 to Cincinnati, " the Queen city of the West," 
 as it is termed. From thence we proceeded 
 to Indianapolis, " the city of railroads," and 
 the capital of the state of Indiana, where 
 the General Conference was to assemble, 
 having held the most exciting public services 
 among both white and coloured Methodists 
 in our way. At Indianapolis we were most 
 cordially welcomed by the bishops, ministers, 
 and friends, in their assembly within the 
 State-house ; and were hospitably entertained 
 by the Governor of the State. DR. HANNAH 
 responded heartily and affectingly to the 
 welcome given to us ; and preached and
 
 Sermon before tfje General Conference. 89 
 
 spoke energetically and eloquently at the 
 several services and sessions we afterwards 
 attended. His official sermon before the 
 Conference, from 2 Cor. v. 21, "For He 
 hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew 
 no sin ; that we might be made the righteous- 
 ness of God in Him," afterwards supplied 
 and published by request of the General Con- 
 ference, was richly evangelical and power- 
 fully impressive. During its delivery there 
 were many outbursts of " Praise the Lord !" 
 for the " method of man's reconciliation with 
 God" set forth in the Scriptures, and thus 
 luminously and forcibly expounded and pre- 
 sented for acceptance by the British Repre- 
 sentative. And when, after sojourning nearly 
 three weeks among the brethren and friends 
 at Indianapolis, we took our departure, we 
 were thronged and followed by weeping mul- 
 titudes ; so greatly had DR. HANNAH, by his 
 gentle loving spirit, and by his eloquent 
 addresses, endeared himself to the different 
 ranks and classes of Methodist ministers and 
 people gathered in that city.
 
 90 KlcstfaartJ to tfjc IHisstssfppu 
 
 On leaving Indianapolis, we went further 
 westward, to St. Louis ; then up the Mis- 
 sissippi to Quincy ; from which we crossed 
 extended plains of rich prairie-land to Chi- 
 cago, the magic city, which in forty years has 
 advanced from a solitary hut to abodes and 
 mansions for more than two hundred thousand 
 inhabitants. From Chicago we went by the 
 " lightning express" train to Detroit, where 
 we were on the borders- of the " great lakes ;" 
 and then we soon passed over Lake Erie, 
 and by Buffalo, to the " Falls of Niagara." 
 On gaining the Canadian side of the " Falls," 
 where British dominion was reached, the 
 Doctor, with all the enthusiasm of his loyal 
 nature, lifted up his hat, waved it overhead, 
 and shouted, " God save the Queen 1" After 
 surveying deliberately, and from its different 
 points of view, this world of falling waters, 
 we made our way across Lake Ontario 
 to Toronto, where we spent several days in 
 public services, and in fraternal intercourse 
 with the ministers and people of Methodism 
 in that flourishing city. Here, as in the
 
 33g tfje 3Lafos 10 Canada. 91 
 
 United States, the Doctor's presence and 
 ministry were eagerly welcomed, and power- 
 fully effective. After a brief sojourn here, 
 we sped by "steamer" and "rail" to Brock- 
 ville, to greet in our way the Canadian 
 brethren, assembled in their annual Confer- 
 ence ; and there also DR. HANNAH spoke and 
 preached in his own attractive and effective 
 style. We then passed the great St. Law- 
 rence, with its "rapids" and "thousand 
 isles," to Montreal; and by Lake Champlain, 
 for return to New York and England ; he 
 turning aside for a day or two's rest with old 
 friends at Khinebeck, and I going eastward 
 to see Boston, and the " Green Mountain" 
 scenery taken on the way. In a day or two 
 we again met; and by steamer down the 
 romantic Hudson river returned to New 
 York. Here we had the most friendly wel- 
 comes, and public services of affecting 
 " farewells ; " and after a good passage in 
 our former steamer, the "Africa," reached, 
 through Divine mercy, our own land in safety. 
 Thus in twelve weeks this devoted minister,
 
 92 Return to 
 
 sixty-five years old, had travelled eleven 
 thousand miles, and had engaged Sabbath 
 after Sabbath, and week-day after week-day, 
 in the most exciting services ; and in all had 
 not only borne up, but acquitted himself most 
 ably. It is true, that the extreme point of 
 effort had been reached ; and both of us had 
 to nurse ourselves in our berths by day as 
 well as by night, on our return, for the 
 recovery of physical and nervous vigour. 
 But to me, in the review, it is marvellous 
 how the " old man eloquent" should have 
 borne that continuous strain upon his powers 
 which he had almost perpetually to sustain 
 on our visit to America. 
 
 In all our travels he was deeply interested 
 in the young progressive life of the Western 
 World. He was a devoted son of the " Old 
 World," and venerated its constitution, and 
 ancient laws and buildings, with enthusiasm 
 most ardent and profound ; but his mind was 
 fully awake to the lively and promising 
 activities of the rising States of that truly 
 " great country." He was not the prejudiced,
 
 Utetos of tfje TO extern 
 
 narrow-minded adherent to old forms that 
 seeks to make what appropriately belongs to 
 this "Angle-land" fit upon the vast newly- 
 opened continents and regions of distant parts. 
 He could appreciate the good in other lands 
 as well as in his own. His compassionate 
 nature showed itself, when we beheld the 
 slave-population on the border States, and he 
 expressed burning indignation at the recital of 
 wrongs inflicted upon Negroes and Indians. 
 But he was not blindly indifferent to the 
 social and constitutional difficulties then in the 
 way of total abolition of slavery in America ; 
 and did not sweepingly condemn all early 
 settlers there because some of their number 
 had wronged, and hunted down to death, the 
 Indian aborigines. HE, whose ways are not 
 our ways, has, by what was lawful as a war- 
 measure, but which would have been unlaw- 
 ful in a time of peace, abolished the accursed 
 evil of slavery ; and where constitutional laws 
 would not have permitted it to be done 
 universally, and once for all, HE, the supreme 
 Ruler of nations, has made " darkness light,
 
 94 iSeport to tfje Bnttsfj (Conference. 
 
 and crooked things straight." And the 
 sole glory of American emancipation of 
 slavery belongs to HIM. DOCTOR HANNAH'S 
 thoughtful and judicious mind comprehended 
 existing difficulties; and when they were 
 overcome in a manner unforeseen and un- 
 thought of, gave praise to God. And in all 
 the varying scenery of sea, rivers, city, and 
 wilderness, beheld by us, he was the discri- 
 minating observer and the tasteful admirer. 
 Possessed of true poetic feeling, he contem- 
 plated the beauties and wonders of creation, 
 and the energetic activities of settled and 
 emigrant life, with deep interest and full 
 emotion, which evinced themselves by observ- 
 ations and exclamations, most instructive 
 and appropriate. 
 
 On appearing before the Conference at 
 Bristol, to report our reception, and deliver 
 fraternal greetings from our brethren in 
 America to the Methodists of great Britain, 
 DR. HANNAH related, in his own unpremedi- 
 tated and artless style, what we had seen 
 and heard in the land, in the Conference, and
 
 JHang Official appointments. 95 
 
 among the churches to which we had been 
 sent; and by outbursting responses, as well 
 as by formal resolution, the ministers assem- 
 bled expressed their grateful sense of the 
 able and efficient service he had rendered on 
 their behalf. The remembrance of this visit 
 to America, as all his friends know, was 
 pleasant and joyous to him. 
 
 It was not only as their representative 
 abroad that DK. HANNAH was honoured by 
 his brethren; but, also, in their election of 
 him to high office at home. Nine times he 
 was elected by them to be Secretary of the 
 British Conference ; and, though clerkship 
 was not his forte, yet the many huge folio 
 pages filled by his own handwriting in the 
 Conference Journal show how diligently and 
 conscientiously he performed the duties of 
 that office. During twenty years in succes- 
 sion he was elected to the chairmanship of 
 the Manchester and Bolton District ; and held 
 that responsible position with high credit 
 to himself, and with great advantage to the 
 Connexion. ' Nor during this extended period
 
 96 JJTmi'cc $3re0fontt of t!jc Conference. 
 
 was there heard one jealous complaint from 
 any of his brethren. Twice he was elected 
 to be the President of the Conference, first 
 in London, in 1842, and afterwards in New- 
 castle-on-Tyne, in 1851 ; and on both occa- 
 sions he filled that high office with acknow- 
 ledged impartiality, dignity, and ability. He 
 was, in fact, the same humble, faithful, loving 
 servant of the Lord, whatever service he was 
 called to perform. He did all things in the 
 fear of God, and with love to mankind. 
 Whether in official position in the Conference, 
 or not, he was far from being obtrusive or 
 forward, either in conduct or speaking. He 
 understood well the principles and constitu- 
 tion of Wesleyan Methodism; and he dis- 
 creetly and ably administered its laws and 
 regulations in the several stations he held as 
 Circuit-minister, Chairman of District, Secre- 
 tary, Representative, and President of the 
 Conference. And every agency and enter- 
 prise of the Connexion had his earnest 
 advocacy. But he was not professedly a 
 legislator in the church. He held in remem-
 
 Conduct among Slgsemblrti Brethren. 97 
 
 brance Mr. Wesley's " Rules of a Helper," 
 in one of which it is enjoined, " Do not mend 
 our Rules, but keep them for conscience' 
 sake." Seldom was his voice heard in the 
 Conference, except on direct spiritual and 
 pastoral matters, or in defence of some 
 essential principle. He was no coward, timid 
 as he was naturally. Loyalty to Christ and 
 His cause made him bold and resolute where 
 they were assailed. But he was not a noisy 
 advocate of unconsidered projects and ques- 
 tionable amendments. He recognised the 
 original purpose of the annual assembly of 
 Methodist ministers, to confer together on 
 the work of God, and not to debate and 
 discuss questions formally and at length, as 
 legislative and national questions are debated 
 and discussed in tumultuous assemblies and 
 in the Houses of Parliament. And reveren- 
 tial respect for his brethren made him ever 
 willing to hear them, rather than to be eager 
 to express his own views and opinions. 
 Where called to it, he would join in prompt, 
 decisive, and unpopular action ; but, without 
 
 IT
 
 98 Sgmptoms of Declining Strrngtf). 
 
 plain necessity for it, he shrunk from con- 
 tention and the strife of tongues ; and there 
 were few things for which he had more 
 marked contempt than for mere " talking" or 
 " speech-making." He was in all respects 
 real, and had nothing in him of the artificial. 
 He continued his manifold and official 
 services until the last Conference, when, in 
 accordance with his request, made through 
 the District-Meeting of Manchester in May 
 preceding, he was released from the Theo- 
 logical Tutorship, and was made a supernu- 
 merary minister. He was not a "worn-out" 
 minister, but still preached and spoke with 
 remarkable vigour and fervour. But there 
 were times when public services produced 
 upon him great exhaustion. Having passed 
 more than the allotted age of threescore 
 years and ten, the strong man began to bow 
 himself, and public service had to be abridged 
 and restricted. He had suffered, at periods, 
 from rheumatic attacks ; and had not un- 
 frequently gone forth to fulfil engagements, 
 previously made, in bodily pain and weakness
 
 ifotirentent from fitcfal Eafour. 99 
 
 that would have confined most persons to 
 their homes, and which often ought to have 
 confined him to his bed. On several occa- 
 sions I have met him for association in public 
 services when he was thus suffering. It was 
 so when we met at Glossop, on Good Friday 
 last, and when in the afternoon he preached 
 a most pathetic and powerful sermon on the 
 blood of Atonement. After the effort then 
 made he had to keep his bed for several 
 days. He found himself increasingly uncer- 
 tain both for preaching and lecturing ; so, 
 with counsel and due preparation for a suc- 
 cessor to him as Theological Tutor, he made 
 request that he should be relieved from his 
 office, and be allowed to become a super- 
 numerary. Reluctant as his brethren were to 
 comply with this request, they could not but 
 see that it was reasonable, and that it ought 
 to be granted. 
 
 The members of the District-Committee 
 presented to him a most respectful and 
 affectionate address, expressive of their sense 
 of his personal excellence and valuable 
 
 H 2
 
 100 Ccsttmontals of Affection. 
 
 services ; and of their prayerful desire that, 
 in his comparative retirement, Divine bless- 
 ing might abundantly attend him : ap- 
 pending the request that (if in accordance 
 with his views and convenience) he would, as 
 soon as practicable, put into permanent and 
 obtainable form the excellent lectures he had 
 been wont to deliver to the students. This 
 address he feelingly responded to, tendering 
 his gratitude to the brethren, and promising 
 to do what he could to fulfil their request for 
 the publication of his lectures. The members 
 of the Committee for the Didsbury Branch of 
 the Theological Institution expressed to him 
 similar sentiments ; and with testimonial 
 offerings from themselves and friends, Messrs. 
 Heald, Kay, Napier, and many others, con- 
 tributed at once over 2,000 for a new house 
 to be erected for his successor, which Miss 
 Heald generously furnished, in order that 
 during the remainder of life he and his 
 invalid wife might not be disturbed in their 
 dwelling, but continue there as long as God 
 should spare the life of either of them. The
 
 &ckn0folrtupnnts of fjts Scrbices. 101 
 
 students at Didsbury presented to him an 
 excellent and elaborate time-piece, as their 
 token of gratitude for his services to them ; 
 while the students of the last and of former 
 years joined in the request that he would as 
 soon as convenient sit to John Adams, Esq., 
 the sculptor, for a marble bust, to be placed 
 for them in the hall at Didsbury. The Con- 
 ference granted the request, made through 
 the District-Committee, that DR. HANNAH 
 should leave the office of Theological Tutor 
 and become a supernumerary ; expressing to 
 him by the President, and the voluntary 
 tributes of several of its members, as also by 
 formal and special resolution in its Journal 
 and Minutes, its high appreciation of his 
 character and services. His acknowledg- 
 ments, at the Conference as elsewhere, were 
 modest, grateful, and affectionate ; and after 
 the Conference he returned to his peaceful 
 abode on the Institution-grounds at Didsbury, 
 where almost immediately he commenced 
 writing out his lectures for publication, in ful- 
 filment of the request of his brethren.
 
 102 TDcbotctmrss in 
 
 He was still the willing preacher of the 
 Gospel, as far as circumstances would allow ; 
 and still the tender and devoted pastor of the 
 sick, as well as of the members of his class, 
 which he had been accustomed to meet. And 
 still, as in former times, he was the instructive 
 and consoling correspondent to friends who 
 needed seasonable counsel and sympathy. 
 Few men have had more personal attached 
 friends than Dr. HANNAH ; and few men have 
 been more regular and attentive in corre- 
 spondence than he. The large number of 
 students who had received theological in- 
 struction from him, and the numerous per- 
 sons with whom he had become acquainted 
 through public religious services conducted 
 by him in different parts of the kingdom, 
 with his deep sympathy for the bereaved and 
 sorrowful, entailed upon him much letter- 
 writing. He was formed for friend *l/tj>. His 
 tender, loving nature sought reciprocal affec- 
 tion and congenial tastes and feelings. In 
 one sense, friendship was the staff of his life ; 
 and where he had proved that he could do so
 
 3Last Jtotirtug from f^ome. 103 
 
 securely, he leaned upon it with unhesitating 
 confidence, expressing his inmost thoughts, 
 and various feelings of anxiety, joy, or 
 sorrow, without reserve. Socially, he was 
 a warm-hearted, happy man. He entered 
 the house of a friend, and sprang forth to 
 meet him, and to grasp his hand there, or 
 elsewhere, with more than youthful ardour. 
 And having once made a friend, it may be 
 safely affirmed that he never lost one ; for 
 friendship with him could only strengthen 
 with increased acquaintance and advance of 
 time. He was chivalrous in defence of an 
 absent friend, if spoken against ; and, as in 
 his boyhood, when to save a companion from 
 drowning he plunged headlong into a deep 
 river, though he could not swim, so in 
 manhood and Christian maturity, he would 
 have died for a friend. 
 
 In the early part of December last he 
 came on a visit to my house in London, 
 where he remained nearly a fortnight ; during 
 which time Mr. Adams modelled from his 
 fine, impressive head an excellent classical
 
 104 2tfts Personal appearance, 
 
 bust, which, in future, will fitly represent him 
 as he appeared towards the end of life. Mr. 
 Green's half-length portrait of him in the 
 Centenary Hall represents him in middle 
 life. He was then a large, fine man. In 
 figure he was upright, except a graceful bend 
 of the head, and nearly six feet high. His 
 countenance, when in repose, was devoutly 
 thoughtful and impressive, but readily kin- 
 dled into an expression of cheerfulness ; 
 and, though dark in complexion, became at 
 times radiant with joy. His dark eyes were 
 deeply sunk under thick shaggy brows, which 
 in former years with his long flowing hair 
 turned over the crown of his head and 
 behind the ears were raven black, but had 
 become grey with age. His gentle and 
 measured step was in accordance with his 
 deep sense of propriety in demeanour ; so 
 that, ordinarily, he was solemn and respect- 
 ful in all his movements. He was remark- 
 ably neat and orderly in his dress. Clothed 
 in black, of somewhat primitive shape, with 
 broad white neckerchief, he was at once
 
 anti Bigmfirti demeanour. 105 
 
 simple and dignified in appearance ; so that 
 a stranger on seeing him would conclude 
 that he was no ordinary man, and that he 
 was a venerable minister of Christ. In fact, 
 he might well have been taken for a digni- 
 tary of the Church. In youth, with his 
 thick black overhanging hair and eyebrows, 
 and when his limbs were not fully formed 
 and set, he was somewhat "ungainly" in 
 appearance. And though, in the time of war, 
 when the Lincoln Militia had to be else- 
 where, DR. HANNAH in true loyalty joined the 
 rank and file with the volunteers, and in 
 military clothing appeared on parade-ground 
 and for drill ; yet, withal, by the testimony of 
 those who remember his youth, he was at 
 that period hardly equal in look and gait to 
 blooming, pliant young men in general. But 
 in matured life he was comely and gentle- 
 manly in his aspect and demeanour ; and 
 advancing age, with its attendant growth 
 and maturity in goodness, softened down all 
 harshness of the features, and mellowed them 
 into peaceful and reverential repose. Mr.
 
 106 ConbcTgattonal Cheerfulness. 
 
 Adams's admirable bust shows this, and 
 preserves for our grateful remembrance the 
 dignified head and expressive countenance 
 of the deceased. 
 
 After standing or sitting half an hour for 
 this bust in my study, where friends con- 
 versed freely with him, he expressed sur- 
 prise at the sense of weariness that came upon 
 him. And before this, even on his arrival, 
 both Mrs. Jobson and I perceived a change in 
 his appearance, and that he was not in his 
 usual state of health. At times he was buoy- 
 antly cheerful. He was ready for conversa- 
 tion ; and, as on previous occasions, we read 
 and conversed together on subjects of passing 
 interest, he quoting aptly, as wont, both 
 poetry and prose. We read, piecemeal and 
 successively, as opportunity allowed, the 
 several essays of a volume which brought 
 forth for review most of the leading questions 
 disturbing and endangering the Protestant 
 Church at this time, both of Ritualism and 
 Popery on the one hand, and of Rationalistic 
 latitudinarianism on the other. This drew
 
 Stance for lEstabU'sbefo rtoet. 107 
 
 out his views on doctrinal and ecclesias- 
 tical subjects distinctively and decisively. 
 He was a firm supporter of law and order. 
 And he had deep reverence for established 
 things that good and great men had been 
 connected with. His very education and 
 training in the grand old city of Lincoln, 
 crowded with ancient churches, and crowned 
 on " its sovereign hill" with its majestic 
 cathedral, would, upon his thoughtful, rever- 
 ential mind, tend to produce this. As 
 an intelligent Wesleyan, read in ecclesias- 
 tical history, and in the struggles for the 
 Reformation by champions in the Church of 
 England, who died martyrs for the truth, he 
 venerated the Establishment of the land, and 
 desired its real welfare. But the attempts to 
 revive for it obsolete forms, and to introduce 
 Popish rites and ceremonies, roused his 
 wrathful indignation, and led him to declare 
 that they who did such things were traitors 
 to the cause they professed to have espoused, 
 and that they ought at once to be cast out. 
 In his earlier ministry he used, at baptism,
 
 l" s abfoing ConCtocnce in fHrtfjoliism. 
 
 to sign the infant, after ancient form, with 
 the sign of the cross ; but when in later life 
 he found that such signs were abused to the 
 favour of Popery, he ceased from using the 
 sign, and, with the accompanying prayers and 
 thanksgivings, simply sprinkled the child with 
 water in the name of the Father, the Son, 
 and the Holy Ghost. He was impatient under 
 the speculations of Rationalism. He beheld 
 in them want of submission to the authority 
 of God in His word ; and traced sceptical 
 doubt of Divine Revelation, not only to the 
 mind, but, as God Himself does, to the heart. 
 Upon questions vital to Methodism he 
 had cheerful confidence. Having retired, 
 himself, from the front rank of service, he did 
 not spend his time in looking for false steps 
 in those whom he had left. He rejoiced in 
 the belief that the students at Didsbury 
 would find in his amiable and accomplished 
 successor, the Rev. William Burt Pope, a 
 safe and a successful instructor ; and he was 
 not less hopeful for the Theological Institu- 
 tion because he himself had ceased to be
 
 Concern for tfje SSUsmtj fKtmstrg. 109 
 
 officially connected with it. He had undimin- 
 ished confidence in it, and in other depart- 
 ments of Methodism. On one or two points 
 relating to the rising ministry among us 
 he was anxious, and at times expressed deep 
 concern. One was, lest the young men 
 recommended for it should not be equal, in 
 mental capacity and earnest diligence, to the 
 candidates for our ministry in past times. 
 He said that, from observation on this 
 matter, he thought that on this ground there 
 was reason for anxiety and fear; and that, 
 whether through increased attractions in the 
 world for intelligent energetic young men, or 
 want of equal devotedness to Christ, or from 
 both these reasons, it seemed to be a fact, 
 that, in mental calibre and impulsive energy, 
 the young men entering our ministry now 
 are not equal to the young men who entered 
 it in past years. And, as he observed, 
 inferior minds, with the best theological 
 education and training, never can rise into 
 superior or even mediocre preachers of Christ 
 and ministers of His church. " Give me,"
 
 110 Desire for oltJ 
 
 exclaimed he, energetically, when speaking 
 on this topic, " a ploughboy with a mind like 
 John Hunt, one of my first students, and I 
 would prefer him, ten thousand times over, to 
 an educated and accomplished weakling." 
 
 Another subject of concern with him was 
 the preaching of young Methodist ministers. 
 He feared lest, tempted by straining after 
 novel forms of expression, and after the 
 finished periods and gaudy adornments of 
 rhetoricians, the full simplicity of the Gospel 
 should be lost and forfeited. He knew how to 
 appreciate the really sound and beautiful ; 
 and few men had stronger relish for real 
 poetic clothing than he had. But the crude 
 and grotesque imitations for which men 
 labour, and which they strain their ingen- 
 uity to obtain and to elaborate, he nause- 
 ated, as every well-regulated mind must do. 
 When professionally addressing his students 
 on this topic, he used to say earnestly, 
 " Preach the old-fashioned Gospel, in the 
 old-fashioned way." And when speaking 
 of this a few days before his death, he said
 
 i&emembranceg. Ill 
 
 to me, " I sometimes hear a sermon that 
 distresses me. I cannot say it is a new Gos- 
 pel ; but it is a new dress, or new sound for it ; 
 and I have to ponder to know if it be really 
 the Jerusalem Gospel I have been familiar 
 with. I like," said he, with zest, " to hear 
 the old ring of the old Gospel." I name 
 these anxieties and solicitudes of the depart- 
 ed, not that we may go to and fro mopishly 
 expressing our fears, or crying down into 
 weakness our rising ministry; but that we 
 may do as our departed friend did, make 
 them the subjects of earnest prayer before 
 God, supplicating Him, of His infinite mercy, 
 to give us men for our ministry of the true 
 stamp, mentally and morally. 
 
 During his last sojourn with me, he spoke 
 much of the past, and of his associations with 
 Lincoln. He might almost be said to have 
 then reviewed his life for me. He traced 
 his ministerial course, dwelling fondly on 
 the scenes of his earlier services, and on 
 his former friendships and alliances, both in 
 the ministry and among the laity. He spoke
 
 112 ftfimnisccnres of 2Ttoo Great fflrn. 
 
 at length of his stations at Nottingham, 
 Leeds, Manchester, and Huddersfield ; and 
 of the favour shown to him in those Circuits. 
 Of his ministerial colleagues and friends in 
 Manchester he spoke with special interest ; 
 relating several incidents which had evidently 
 impressed him deeply. One was the real 
 nobility evinced by Dr. Bunting and the 
 Rev. Richard Watson, his colleagues in the 
 Manchester Third Circuit, when they met in his 
 house after differences between them on some 
 public questions, concerning which they had 
 taken decided and antagonistic positions. 
 He had invited them to dinner at his table, 
 not knowing what the meeting would be. 
 From what had previously passed under a 
 sense of public duty, it might have been sup- 
 posed that they would have met frowning 
 darkly at each other, like two thunder-clouds. 
 But, instead of that, they met not only court- 
 eously, but fraternally, each giving the other 
 full credit for sincerity and conscientiousness. 
 His reverence for these two great men was 
 profound, and he never referred to them with-
 
 ^is pinions of Great Pteacfjerg. 113 
 
 out showing it to be so. As an accurate and 
 safe theologian ; as a clear, lucid, and powerful 
 preacher ; and as a liberal, large-minded ad- 
 ministrator for the scriptural government of 
 the church of God, he declared Dr. Bunting 
 to have been, in his opinion, the greatest man 
 he had known ; while the Doctor's urbanity, 
 sociability, and fatherly attentions to his 
 colleagues, had evidently impressed him most 
 favourably. Mr. Watson he viewed as having 
 possessed the loftiest intellect he had known ; 
 and he referred to him as the impersona- 
 tion of solemn majestic thought. He spoke, 
 also, of the Eev. Theophilus Lessey, as among 
 the most pathetic and eloquent preachers he 
 had heard ; as, also, of Mr. William Dawson, 
 with whom he had been personally associated 
 in Leeds, and of the style, and of the effects 
 produced by the preaching, of that dramatic 
 and effective Yorkshire genius. Usually, he 
 did not in conversation dwell so much up^n 
 the men of the past, as upon what might be 
 hoped for from those rising up and coming 
 forth to be the men of the future. He was
 
 114 SLofae for ijt'g fiatifae Citg. 
 
 naturally less disposed to build sepulchres 
 for the prophets, than to raise up living 
 stones for the spiritual house of the Most 
 High. But at this time he made affecting 
 references, again and again, to the dead in 
 Christ whom he had known and loved; and 
 he did so with great zest and manifest 
 enjoyment. 
 
 Nor was LINCOLN, his native city, for- 
 gotten or unnamed. It ever lived in his 
 memory ; and, journey or visit where he 
 would, he bore the remembrance of it fondly 
 in his mind. He spoke of it as he knew it 
 in his youth, with its former generation of 
 Methodists ; and of the few that remain who 
 were fellow-worshippers and workers with 
 him when he was stationed in it. You 
 remember his yearly visits and ministrations 
 among you ; and though, for the most part, 
 the sons and daughters of his contemporaries, 
 yet you have never ceased to venerate him as 
 a father in Christ. You know that it was 
 my privilege to be associated with him here 
 in social and public services; and last July,
 
 Cfjecrful Remembrances of Ifoutf). 115 
 
 you will remember, we were with you to- 
 gether for your chapel-anniversary. We 
 preached alternately in. this pulpit on the 
 Sunday, and on Monday evening attended 
 a social meeting that filled the lower part of 
 this large and commodious place of worship. 
 We had spent the day in revisiting old 
 scenes. The cathedral, with its solemn 
 aisles and stately towers, had been again 
 surveyed by us. We had looked again upon 
 the Roman gate of ancient LINDUM ; and, just 
 before coming to the evening meeting, we 
 walked in company to Monks' Abbey, and, 
 between its crumbling, picturesque ruins and 
 surrounding elms, we watched the sun 
 as he glowed in golden descent behind the 
 elevated minster, appearing in deep, massive, 
 purple shadow towards us ; and, as we trod 
 the heaps of buried walls, we spoke of the 
 probable scenes that in former days had there 
 been witnessed, and of the light-hearted, 
 gleesome feelings with which we had scram- 
 bled about its ruins in our respective boy- 
 hoods. 
 
 i2
 
 116 Recollections of 3Lincoln 
 
 In the meeting here, as you will call to 
 mind, DR. HANNAH spoke of early Methodism 
 in Lincoln ; related what had been done for 
 it by holy women, for which he said, em- 
 phatically, Lincoln Methodism had been dis- 
 tinguished from the beginning, down from 
 the days of Sarah Parrot, of Bracebridge, 
 who by prayerful importunity brought Mrs. 
 Fisher, from Gonerby, to it, to build the first 
 Methodist chapel and to entertain itinerant 
 ministers, through the days of Mrs. Bavin, 
 Mary Proudlove, and my own dear mother, 
 to the present time. He was truly at home, 
 and happy among us at that, the last meeting 
 he attended here. Indeed, his niece relates, 
 in particulars furnished for this service, that 
 he returned home from it affirming that the 
 meeting was the happiest he had ever spent 
 with dear friends on earth. And his son, 
 Dr. John Hannah, in kindly supplying me 
 with notes on his father's connection with 
 Lincoln, and on the events and incidents of 
 his father's life, observes, voluntarily and truly, 
 " He was loved and honoured at Lincoln
 
 Commencement of ftfe 2La0t Illness. 117 
 
 from first to last ; and there was no place 
 and no circle of friends for which he 
 cherished a warmer affection." I should 
 rather understate than overstate the extent 
 of DR. HANNAH'S reminiscences of Lincoln 
 when we were last together, if I were to say- 
 that, of the twelve days he spent with me in 
 London, he occupied altogether as much as 
 one entire day in speaking of it. 
 
 On appearing at breakfast one morning, 
 the Doctor looked worn and serious. He 
 complained that he had not slept during the 
 night, and that his breathing had been 
 somewhat heavy and difficult. He seemed 
 cheered with his dear wife's epistle, delivered 
 by the morning-post, and said he had no 
 doubt that the day would find him improved 
 in health as it advanced. I remained at 
 home with him that day; and after dinner 
 persuaded him in consideration of the sleep- 
 less night to rest himself in the easy chair by 
 the fire. He soon fell asleep ; but the sounds 
 of short, ruttling breath alarmed me ; and 
 though, when he woke up, he declared
 
 118 East Sabbatf) in public. 
 
 confidently, that he was himself again, I 
 remained anxious and fearful. After a day 
 or two he seemed to have nearly recovered 
 his usual state of health ; but as the Sabbath 
 approached, he said to me, "You will be 
 expecting that we shall do on Sunday as we 
 have before done when together, divide the 
 services of the day ; but you must not ask me 
 to preach, for I do not feel really equal to 
 doing so. I shall go with you both times, 
 and we will worship together." I replied, 
 "As you are not strong, I will not ask you to 
 preach for me. I shall be at Mildmay-Park 
 chapel in the morning, and at Highbury 
 chapel in the evening. But as there are 
 notable preachers within reach, I would 
 advise you to hear one of them, at least." 
 "No," he rejoined; "I shall go with you. 
 I like to be with my friends, and to worship 
 among my own people." He was with me 
 throughout that day ; neither of us thinking 
 that it was to be the last Sabbath we were 
 to spend together on earth. Little thought 
 he or I, as we stood up at the beginning of
 
 3Last jtourneg ffc?ome. 119 
 
 Sunday-morning worship, that three weeks 
 hence at that hour he would pass from earth 
 to the worship of heaven. It was, however, 
 in our ignorance of the future, and by Divine 
 blessing, a happy day : we called the Sabbatli 
 a delight, and we felt it to be holy of the 
 Lord and honourable. He remained through 
 the week ; and, as Mrs. Hannah encouraged 
 him by her communications to do so, he 
 stayed to accompany me by the North 
 Western train, as I should have to go on 
 Saturday afternoon, December 14, to Burs- 
 lem ; arid he would thus be able to travel 
 with me most of the way towards his own 
 home. We travelled together as far as 
 Stafford, where we separated ; he going 
 directly forward by Crewe to Stockport, and 
 I turning off on the line to the Potteries. 
 Before leaving him, I saw him safely seated 
 in a warm, comfortable carriage, wrapped up 
 in his large cape ; he assuring me that he 
 had there all that he desired. His train glided 
 away, and we waved hands, and parted for 
 ever on earth.
 
 120 ato rcacfjclJ i)s 2Ust Sermon. 
 
 On reaching home, DR. HANNAH com- 
 plained that cold was still upon him ; and on 
 the day following he remained at home, wor- 
 shipping there as circumstances allowed. He 
 had an appointment for Oxford-road chapel, 
 Manchester, that morning; but, feeling his 
 weakness and incapability, he had written 
 from town to his friend the Rev. "William 
 Jackson, the Governor of the Didsbury In- 
 stitution, to supply the pulpit for him 
 by the best student that could be selected at 
 the time. So that the service he had at the 
 opening of the new chapel at Walsall when 
 he preached there on Monday, November 25, 
 with great pathos and power, from Rev. xxii. 
 17, " And the Spirit and the bride say, 
 Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. 
 And let him that is athirst come. And who- 
 soever will, let him take the water of life 
 freely" was the last public service in which 
 he officiated. In the early part of the week, 
 immediately after his return home, he con- 
 tinued unwell. On Thursday, December 19, 
 he went into the meeting of the Committee
 
 to fjis Beatfj=blJ. 121 
 
 for the Didsbury Institution, when he felt 
 chill, seemed to his friends there restless and 
 uneasy, and soon left the Committee meeting 
 and went home, saying to Mrs. Hannah as he 
 entered her room, " My place is not in the 
 College, but here." The President of the 
 Conference, the Rev. John Bedford, followed 
 him home, and conversed with him in his 
 study, when he complained of cold which he 
 had felt upon him for some time ; but he 
 spoke cheerfully on several subjects. , After- 
 wards he retired to his bed, from which he 
 never rose again-; and gradually sank so low 
 that medical counsel declared, unless there 
 was very speedy relief, the result would 
 be serious. These apprehensions, in which 
 he shared, did not alarm him. He quietly 
 committed himself to God in Christ, and 
 trusted unwaveringly in Him. In his last 
 sickness he was greatly consoled by the visits 
 and attentions of his colleagues. 
 
 On Friday, December 27, as a lady who 
 had visited him was departing, he said to 
 her, " Good bye. Give my love to your
 
 122 Dm'mj Entcrbtrtog fottf) 
 
 children, to each of them ; and tell them 
 that the blood of Jesus is enough for me 
 now, and that it will be enough for them for 
 everything." On that day his niece, Miss 
 Parker, for whom he cared with fatherly 
 tenderness of affection, said to him, " Jesus 
 is very precious." DR. HANNAH replied in- 
 stantly and with emphasis, " yes ! yes !" 
 By the evening of that Friday his son, 
 Dr. John Hannah, Warden of Glenalmond 
 College, Perthshire, in whom he had just 
 pride and delight, as an accomplished scholar 
 and a devoted clergyman, arrived, to watch 
 and minister at his bedside, which was a 
 real solace to him. On Saturday the Pre- 
 sident of the Conference, learning his critical 
 state, again visited him, and found him much 
 changed in appearance. He gave fraternal 
 greeting to the President ; and when the 
 President, after words of consolation, briefly 
 prayed with him, again and again he 
 responded, "Amen! Amen!" Then firmly 
 grasping the President's hand, he looked up 
 with eyes beaming with calm and joyous
 
 p?is ffilafc Confidence in ffioti. 123 
 
 hope, and gently whispered, " My dear friend, 
 Jesus is mine ; all is well." Mr. Napier saw 
 him almost immediately afterwards ; and to 
 him he said, " My dear friend, all is well. 
 I shall soon be where the weary are for ever 
 at rest." On that day his beloved niece had 
 quoted to him the opening of the passage in 
 the book of Nahum : " The Lord is good, a 
 strong hold in the day of trouble ;" when he 
 finished the verse, adding, " and He knoweth 
 them that trust in Him." Some time after- 
 wards she said, while moistening his lips with 
 water, " You will soon drink of the water of 
 life." He replied immediately, " That was 
 my last" meaning "text," which he could 
 not then utter. He sent me on the morning 
 of that day a last message of affection. In 
 the afternoon of the day he was thought to be 
 dying : his son knelt down by him, and prayed 
 fervently; to which prayer the father re- 
 sponded by emphatic "Am ens." Mrs. Hannah 
 sent from her bed in the study, to which she 
 had been that day removed, a tender message 
 of love to him ; to which he promptly re-
 
 124 Jfyi* Serene anto 2tynppo Death. 
 
 sponded, though scarcely able to articulate, 
 by requesting that Mrs. Hannah's favourite 
 psalm, the twenty- tlu'rd, " The Lord is my 
 Shepherd," &c., and her favourite hymn, com- 
 mencing, 
 
 "Thou Shepherd of Israel and mine," 
 
 might be read to him. They were read to 
 him accordingly ; and he whispered again and 
 again, as they were read, "Amen!" This 
 whispered "Amen" was the last word heard 
 from him. After .this he took little notice of 
 anything ; only now and then opening his 
 eyes towards his son, and his son's wife, who 
 ministered attentively to him ; and on the 
 next morning, December 29, 1867, which 
 was that of the Lord's day, just as the 
 service was commenced in the chapel ad- 
 joining, where he had so often worshipped on 
 earth, he passed to the worship and service 
 of heaven. 
 
 Tidings of DR. HANNAH'S death spread 
 rapidly through the kingdom, and produced 
 surprise and sorrow among thousands. The
 
 Consolations of tfje Bereabco. 125 
 
 hope had been generally entertained, that he 
 would pass some remaining years at Didsbury 
 in undisturbed repose ; and that he would 
 still be able to give partial counsel and 
 service to the Connexion, as they might be 
 called for. But the Divine Being had, in 
 infinite wisdom, ordered it otherwise. And, 
 considering his temperament, and his habit 
 of leaning upon others, entirely, in temporal 
 arrangements and provisions, his friends can 
 see under the heavy stroke of bereavement 
 that has fallen upon them, that it was, never- 
 theless, " goodness and mercy" from the 
 Lord to His servant in thus suddenly 
 removing him from earth to heaven. He 
 himself had become apprehensive of loneliness 
 and discomfort, if left as the survivor of his 
 wife. This, however, his friends were not 
 thinking of; and when the news of his 
 departure was received by them, they mourned 
 their own loss, and the loss sustained by his 
 family, and by Methodism at large. Many 
 clad themselves voluntarily in mourning ; 
 numerous letters of sympathy with the
 
 126 Sasrmblu at fjia Jfimrral. 
 
 afflicted widow were sent to her ; pulpits in 
 which he had been wont to minister were 
 covered with signs of his death ; and 
 preachers in different parts of the kingdom 
 referred to him with deep emotion. 
 
 His funeral at Didsbury on Thursday, 
 January 2, 1868, was very numerously at- 
 tended. Though it took place in the depth 
 of winter, at some miles distance from any 
 populous town, and in a comparatively se- 
 cluded village, there was an attendance 
 of friends from London, Bristol, Birmingham, 
 Leeds, Huddersfield, Macclesfield, Southport, 
 Liverpool, Bury, Summerseat, Manchester, 
 Stockport, and other parts of the kingdom ; 
 so that, altogether, not less than one thou- 
 sand persons assembled to pay to his memory 
 the last earthly tribute of respectful and 
 affectionate homage. 
 
 The religious service in the Institution- 
 chapel, crowded in every part, was most 
 solemn and impressive. The body of the 
 deceased was placed in front of the com- 
 munion-rails ; and on the pall that covered
 
 Oj Jutwral Serbice. 127 
 
 it was a chaplet-wreath of wliite flowers, 
 supplied by affection which exulted in the 
 assurance of his conquest, through Christ, 
 over sin and death. Several ministers, known 
 to have been immediate friends and associates 
 of DR. HANNAH, took the several parts of the 
 service ; viz., the Revs. William W. Stamp, 
 John D. Greden, William Jackson, William B. 
 Pope, and John Rattenbury, and myself. 
 The Rev. John Bedford, President of the Con- 
 ference, and who for many years had been 
 connected with him in friendly and official 
 co-operation, delivered a beautiful, comprehen- 
 sive, and affecting address on DB. HANNAH'S 
 character and services. Under its delivery 
 there were gushing outbursts of feeling that 
 could not be suppressed. The Revs. Dr. 
 Osborn, an attached friend through many 
 years, and John Farrar, Secretary of the 
 Conference, also a personal friend, as well as 
 his former colleague both in Circuit-service 
 and in tutorship in the Theological Institu- 
 tion, added most appropriate and touching 
 utterances. And the singing, the reading of
 
 128 he jhmcral procession. 
 
 the Scriptures, and the prayers, on that qcca- 
 sion were all reverentially devout and sabbatic 
 in their character. Gratitude to God for the 
 life, example, and memory of one so pure and 
 heavenly, mingled with affectionate sorrow, 
 both cf his family and friends present. And 
 though the sacred service was sad and 
 mournful in one aspect, yet it was blessed in 
 thankfulness and joyful in hope, so as to be 
 fully in accordance with the character of the 
 deceased, and was a real means of spiritual 
 benefit to all. 
 
 The following paragraph, which appeared 
 next week in a Wesleyan journal, describes 
 the funeral itself: 
 
 " It had been arranged that the interment should 
 take place in the burying-ground belonging to Didsbury 
 church, where DH. HANNAU owned a family-grave ; and 
 accordingly a solemn procession of sorrowing friends 
 now formed at the door of his late residence, and moved 
 on with their precious dead towards the church close 
 by. The procession was headed by the officiating clergy- 
 men, the Rev. William J. Kidd, Rector of Didsbury, 
 and the Rev. Charles C. Bluett, M.A., Incumbent of 
 J3arlow-Moor, followed by Messrs. Ockleston and Ban-
 
 at fEcurnerg. 
 
 nerman the former DE. HANNAH'S medical attendant ; 
 by the President and Secretary of the Conference ; by 
 the Rev. John Lomas, the Rev. W. W. Stamp, the Rev. 
 John Rattenbury, and the Rev. Dr. Osborn, Ex-Presi- 
 dents of the Conference ; and the Rev. Messrs. Jackson, 
 Pope, and Geden. After these came the Body, carried 
 by eight members of the Methodist Society at Didsbury, 
 the pall being borne by the Rev. Peter M'Owan, the 
 Rev. Dr. Jobson, and Messrs. William R. Johnson, T. 
 Percival Bunting, John Chubb, John Fernley, John 
 Napier, and George Marsden. DR. HANNAH'S family 
 was represented by his son, the Rev. John Hannah, 
 D.C.L., Warden of Grlenalmond College, Perthshire ; by 
 his grandson, the Rev. Julius Hannah, B.A., late of 
 Balliol College, Oxford ; and by Mr. Sharpies, of Tarn- 
 worth. Behind the chief mourners followed a train of 
 not fewer than a hundred ministers, together with a 
 great number of lay gentlemen from Manchester, Liver- 
 pool, Stockport, Birmingham, Bristol, London, and 
 other towns of the kingdom, far and near. Thus, amidst 
 every possible demonstration of grief and honour on the 
 part of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, the pro- 
 cession made its way to the church. The church was 
 filled to overflowing during the reading of the Burial 
 Service ; and never, probably, did such a sorrowing 
 multitude numbering altogether, as was reckoned, 
 nearly a thousand persons gather in the churchyard as 
 when the Rector devoutly and feelingly committed to 
 the dust the dear remains of JOHN HANNAH, the glory 
 
 K
 
 130 $fig Dratfj Emprobrtj bg tfjc $rcstontt. 
 
 and beauty of Didsbuiy, and the object of the universal 
 love and reverence of Methodism at home and abroad. 
 Large as was the attendance at tho funeral, it would 
 have been abundantly larger, had not distance, import- 
 ant previous engagements, and personal or family 
 affliction hindered many from being present." 
 
 DR. HANNAH'S death was officially improved 
 by the President of the Conference, in Oldham- 
 street chapel, Manchester, on Wednesday 
 evening, January 22, to a crowded and most 
 attentive congregation, comprising ministers 
 and friends from all parts of Manchester and 
 its surrounding towns. 
 
 Thus was the devoted and faithful servant 
 of Christ honoured in death as well as in life, 
 and the Divine promise, so aptly quoted for 
 him by Dr. Osborn, obtained in him open 
 and public fulfilment : " Because he hath 
 set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver 
 him : I will set him on high, because he hath 
 known My name. He shall call upon Me, 
 and I will answer him : I will be with him in 
 trouble ; I will deliver him, and honour him. 
 With long life will I satisfy him, and show 
 him My salvation."
 
 Nobleness of J)ts ISiamplc. 131 
 
 In seeking PEACTICAL IMPROVEMENT of the 
 event we have met to commemorate, reflec- 
 tions and lessons are numerous. 
 
 1. We observe, WHAT REAL GRANDEUR THERE 
 
 IS IN A LIFE OF ENTIRE DEVOTEDNESS TO CHRIST ! 
 
 We see this in St. John, the beloved disciple ; 
 and we see it in our fellow-citizen and friend, 
 recently departed. Suppose JOHN HANNAH 
 had been disobedient to the heavenly call, 
 and, from worldly, selfish views, had remained 
 to occupy as parental solicitude had thought 
 he would his father's place, and carry on his 
 father's business in this city, with means and 
 facilities promising to him ; and suppose he had 
 succeeded to establish himself in prosperous 
 and wealthy merchandise ; what would have 
 been his position and memory, compared with 
 what they are now ? They would have been 
 low and mean, comparatively. And he would 
 have borne with him through life, by day 
 and by night, a condemnatory sense of 
 unfaithfulness, which in death when the 
 world is stripped of its false appearances, and 
 naked realities present themselves would 
 
 K2
 
 132 $?omacje to Ijis Dcbotrtmcgg. 
 
 have ripened into dread remorse. Could he 
 then have exclaimed in exhaustive weakness, 
 " All is well ! I shall soon be where the 
 weary are for ever at rest?" To say nothing 
 of his entrance into the presence of his 
 Lord; or of the joy that awaits him at the 
 resurrection of the just, when " the righteous 
 shall shine as the sun, and they that have 
 turned many to righteousness as the stars for 
 ever and ever; " to speak only of this world, 
 where exalted greatness is assigned to devoted 
 service, and where a man becomes " chief by 
 being " the servant of all," how surpassingly 
 honourable in life is he who wholly surren- 
 ders himself to the Saviour, that he may be 
 good and do good ! What royal alliance 
 could have ennobled DR. HANNAH as much as 
 he was ennobled by his devotedness to Christ 
 and His cause ? God set him on high, even 
 among the princes of Israel. Men yielded 
 him reverential homage wherever he appeared 
 in life ; and now that he is dead they bless 
 his memory, as having been one of the best 
 inhabitants of earth, who by prayer and
 
 ffircat ILessons of fjts 3Life. 133 
 
 praise linked it daily with heaven, and who 
 by disinterested service for others through 
 prolonged years was one of the highest and 
 most apostolic benefactors to mankind. " The 
 memory of the just is blessed ; but the name 
 of the wicked shall rot!" The memory of 
 the just is fragrant and pleasant ; but the 
 name of the wicked is corrupt and offensive. 
 What a motive to entire surrender of heart 
 and life to Jesus have we in this beloved 
 disciple ! What a motive especially have the 
 young ministers among us, those who have, 
 as we reckon, a life to consecrate to the service 
 of God and to their generation by His will ! All 
 may not be so gifted and endowed mentally 
 as DR. HANNAH. Few are so. But all that will 
 may be as good and as faithful as he ; and 
 all that will may meet Christ with joy at His 
 coming, and have a glorious reward. Let 
 the event we now commemorate, in relation 
 to him whom we knew and revered, stimulate 
 and lead to this. Then his death, anv more 
 
 * / 
 
 than his life, shall not be in vain in the 
 Lord.
 
 134 ftjis ILoss to tfje Cfjurrfj. 
 
 2. Another reflection suggested by the 
 deep loss sustained in the removal of our 
 father and friend is, OUR ENTIRE AND, IN ONE 
 
 SENSE, OUR HELPLESS DEPENDENCE UPON GOD 
 FOR THE SUPPLY OF SUITABLE AND EFFICIENT 
 
 LABOURERS IN His CAUSE. We have lost from 
 among us a devoted and honoured servant 
 of the Saviour. Our vineyard has in it a 
 labourer less. " The field, which is the 
 world," has been deprived of one who not only 
 ploughed and sowed, but who reaped largely. 
 The hosts of the Lord have lost a champion 
 and a leader who was " valiant for the truth," 
 and his fall in the conflict is "as when a 
 standard-bearer fainteth." Who shall supply 
 his place ? Who shall be baptized for the 
 dead ? We cannot fill it, or put another into 
 it. The Lord of the harvest alone can send 
 forth labourers. The God of battles alone 
 can bring forth soldiers for the Cross. " Pray 
 ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He 
 will send forth" more " labourers into His 
 harvest." Cry to God that He would raise 
 up men of might, and that He would " teach
 
 &ecott ^Losses to fHctljotusm. 135 
 
 their hands to war and their fingers to fight," 
 so that they may " do valiantly." 
 
 Our princes are falling one after another, 
 the men who scorned self-seeking, and who, 
 though they obtained position and honour, 
 did not seek either, but humbly and disin- 
 terestedly held and sustained the distinctions 
 conferred on them, not for themselves, but 
 for the glory of Him who had called and 
 exalted them. They were kings and priests 
 among good men, possessing a royal spirit 
 that ennobled and elevated them to universal 
 homage. Of late, the brighter lights of 
 our ministry, who shed distinguished lustre 
 upon our Connexion, have been successively 
 quenched, until we tremblingly ask if the 
 glory is departing from us. Little more 
 than a year ago, DR. HANNAH publicly im- 
 proved for us the death of a mutual and 
 beloved friend, the REV. WILLIAM MACLAEDIE 
 BUNTING, who for bright intelligence, refined 
 culture, sprightly conversation, evangelical 
 preaching, devotional hymn-writing, pastoral 
 diligence, and large-hearted catholic sym-
 
 136 ur rtat Hogs at EElcstmtnatcr. 
 
 patlries has seldom been surpassed. Since 
 this year commenced, we have lost by death 
 the sagacious, persistent, and successful Prin- 
 cipal of our Normal Training College at 
 Westminster, the EEV. JOHN SCOTT ; who, 
 wise in counsel, skilful in management, and 
 devoted to Methodism, sought continuously 
 the glory of God and the highest good of 
 mankind. He not only promoted established 
 institutions for ministers and people among 
 us, at home and abroad, but, under Divine 
 guidance and blessing, himself created and 
 brought into prosperous working an edu- 
 cational establishment which commands 
 national attention ; and which has extended 
 its agencies by sending forth since its com- 
 mencement more than a thousand trained 
 and certificated teachers to our Week-day 
 Schools in different parts of the kingdom, 
 and some of them to the very ends of the 
 earth. And DR. HANNAH, the safe and efficient 
 instructor and trainer of our rising ministers, 
 has also been removed from us. 
 
 These, and others of our departed fathers
 
 SJSfjat Successors to t^em? 137 
 
 and brethren that might be named, were 
 disinterested, generous, able leaders among 
 us who, while devoted to their own com- 
 munity, sought that great grace might be 
 with all who love the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 They were simple-minded, soul-saving Metho- 
 dist preachers; loyal to established order 
 and government, both in the Church and 
 in the nation; true Wesleyans, practically, 
 as well as professedly, " the friends of 
 all, and the enemies of none." Shall their 
 successors be like them? We stand here 
 to-day on this side of the Jordan they have 
 crossed, and, looking wistfully up towards 
 our departed leaders, we cry, "My father! 
 my father ! the chariot of Israel, and the 
 horsemen thereof." Shall the spirit of our 
 ascended Elijahs be found upon the Elishas 
 left among us ? Shall unselfish, devoted ser- 
 vice to God and His cause, seeking only to 
 save souls, as our Founder enjoined upon his 
 helpers, characterize the men who shall press 
 to the front among us and become influential 
 leaders to our ministers and people ? Or
 
 138 fHcans of 3Trmmpi) in tljc jJFuturr. 
 
 shall noisy partisanship, seeking place and 
 power among disturbers of what is settled, 
 and among open agitators for revolution 
 and change, appear ? 
 
 If the latter, then the strength of Israel 
 shall have departed from us, and the various, 
 complicated, and ponderous machinery of 
 Methodist agency, having wheel within 
 wheel, and which moves with full-eyed in- 
 telligence and noiseless order so long as the 
 Spirit be in the midst of it, no longer 
 supported by Almighty power, fall by its 
 own weight, and become a proverb and a 
 bye-word to the church and the world. 
 But should simple, unostentatious, soul- 
 saving Methodism hold on its way, after 
 the example of the past ; and, amidst smiles 
 and frowns, rebukes and solicitations, " ask 
 for the old paths," and "walk in them," 
 then shall her future be more illustrious 
 than the past; and she shall go forth 
 against ungodliness and sin, against Popish 
 encroachments on the one hand, and ration- 
 alistic infidelity on the other, " fair as the
 
 139 
 
 moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an 
 army with banners. ' ' Let us earnestly pray and 
 diligently labour for this ; and then shall the 
 departures of our beloved friends and brethren 
 be improved by us as intended by Him who 
 says, " I am He that liveth, and was dead ; 
 and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen ; 
 and have the keys of hell and of death." 
 Then shall we joyfully realize the truth of the 
 voice from heaven which proclaims, " Blessed 
 are the dead which die in the Lord from 
 henceforth : Yea, saith the Spirit, that they 
 may rest from their labours ; and their works 
 do follow them." God grant it may be so ! 
 and to Him be all honour and glory, now and 
 evermore. Amen.
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY HAYMAN BROTHERS A CO 
 OOUOH SQUARE, E.C.
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 AUSTRALIA : WITH NOTES BY THE WAY, ON EGYPT, 
 CEYLON, BOMBAY, AND THE HOLY LAND. With a Coloured 
 Illustration. Third Edition. Crown 8vo., 3*. Gd. 
 Fine copy, cambric, gilt, 6s. 
 
 AMERICA, AND AMERICAN METHODISM : WITH A PRE- 
 FATOEY LETTER BY THE KEY. JOHN HANNAH, D.D. 
 Illustrated from Original Sketches by the Author. 
 Crown 8vo., ornamented cloth, 7s. Qd. 
 
 SAVING TRUTHS. Third Edition. 18mo., cloth, 
 gilt lettered. Price Is. 6d. 
 
 CHAPEL AND SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. With 
 
 numerous Plates and Illustrations. Octavo, 8s. 
 
 A MOTHER'S PORTRAIT. With Twenty Engravings 
 on Wood, from Original Pictures by JAMES SMETHAM and 
 FREDERICK J. JOBSON. Crown 8vo., 5s. 
 
 THE SERVANT OF HIS GENERATION: A TRI- 
 BUTE TO THE MEMORY OF THE REV. JABKZ BUNTING, D.D. 
 Crown 8vo., 4s. embossed and gilt ; 3s. plain. 
 
 THE SHIPWRECKED MINISTER, AND HIS 
 DROWNING CHARGE. MEMORIAL TRIBUTE TO THE 
 REV. DANIEL J. DRAPER. Price If.
 
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