mber Sculp' 
 
 MiKw lirmm ^tAx^i\!\(niM, iiiji.;. 
 
 '^^.v/o.^6'^/i^ 

 
 E M I R 
 
 THE REV. JOHN STANFORD. D. 
 
 BV 
 
 CHARLES G. SOMMERS, 
 
 PASTOR t>F TflE SOUTH EAl'TtST CHURCH IN NEW-YOEK.. 
 TOGETIIKU WITH 
 
 AN ArPENUIX, COMPRISING BKIKF MEMOIKS OF THE REV. JOHN 
 
 WILI.IANS, THE IJEV. THOMAS BALPWIN, D. D. AND 
 
 TI!F. KEV. RICHAUU VURMAN, H. D. 
 
 The righteous shall bi; in exerlasting remembrance. — Psalm cxii. f> 
 
 N E W - Y O K K : 
 STANFORD AND S W O K D S 
 
 1844.
 
 Entered acconling to Act of Congress, by Thomas N. Stanford, in the- 
 Clerk's ofTice of tiie Soutlicrn District of New- York.
 
 S7S6 
 
 TO THB HONOURABLE 
 
 THE MAYOR AND CORPORATION OF THE 
 CITY OF NEW-YORK; 
 
 TO 
 
 THE GOVERNORS OF THE NEW- YORK 
 HOSPITAL; 
 
 AMD TO 
 
 THE DIRECTORS OF THE SEVERAL HUMANE 
 AND CRIMINAL INSTITUTIONS, 
 
 IN WHICH 
 
 THE REV. JOHN STANFORD, D. D. 
 
 >TAS FOR MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS THE DEVOTE© 
 AND UNIVERSALLY BELOVED 
 
 CHAPLAIN ; 
 THIS INI E M O I R 
 
 IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, 
 
 BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 SSO-iOO
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The pronent Memoir of the Rev. John Stan- 
 ford, D. D. was commenced at the particular 
 solicitation of iiis surviving relatives and other 
 friends. It was attempted with great diffi- 
 dence, and continued under all the disadvant- 
 ages of accumulated public duties and frequent 
 interruptions. Historical accuracy, and not 
 literary excellence, is all at which circumstances 
 have enabled the writer to aim ; he would, 
 therefore, bespeak the indulgence of the rea- 
 der, so far at least as regards those incidental 
 imperfections which a just criticism may de- 
 tect. With no ambition for authorship, but in 
 humble hope that this biography of a servant 
 of Jesus Christ, so eminently pious, and of 
 such distinguished usefulness, may be made 
 instrumental in promoting that cause to which 
 his youth and hoary age were alike devoted, 
 the work is committed to the providence of 
 God. 
 
 B
 
 Vl ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The Appendix, comprising the memoirs of 
 three eminently pious and useful Baptist mi- 
 nisters, has been added, for the purpose of 
 giving greater publicity to the history of their 
 worth. Wiiile living, they were the affec- 
 tionate friends of Dr. Stanford; it seemed, 
 tljerefore, to be peculiarly appropriate to in- 
 clude the brief narrative of their lives in the 
 ^ame volume.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 If to enlighten and affect the human mind be one 
 means appointed by heaven to promote the moral 
 interests of mankind, then it cannot but be an 
 acceptable service, to spread before the world the 
 history of those who, by uniform and exalted piety, 
 have exemplified the sanctifying power of the gospel 
 of Jesus Christ. By so doing, we multiply the 
 motives to a holy life, and embalm the memory of 
 the just. 
 
 " Let their raem'ry shine, 
 In glories that survive their living days, t 
 
 As od'rous scents outlaet the censer's blaze." 
 
 A desire to remember and to be remembered, is a 
 principle inseparable from the nature of man ; and 
 this feeling has not unfrequently been sanctified to 
 the improvement and pleasure of those who have had 
 sense and good taste sufiicient to prefer the narrative 
 dictated by truth, to works of mere imagination- 
 The fictions of the poet and the novelist will vanish 
 like the meteor's blaze, but the records of the
 
 Viii PREFACE. 
 
 Christian Church shall survive, in the memoirs of 
 those who have added their testimony to that of 
 " the great multitude, which no man can number." 
 A volume of Christian biography, where history 
 teaches by the power of example, cannot fail to make 
 an impression on the mind of the reader, which the 
 apocryphal eftusions of those who write merely to 
 please thy fancy can never produce. Every attempt, 
 therefore, to excite the souls of men to spiritual 
 action, by illustrating the beauty and excellency of 
 religion, as it regulates and blesses life, and pours 
 its consolations, like the light of heaven, around the 
 death-bed of the Christian pilgrim, must be regarded 
 as a work of benevolence. 
 
 The design of this memoir is, neither to build the 
 tombs of the prophets, nor to garnish the sepulchres 
 of the righteous; but, by recording the virtues of the 
 pious dead, to enforce the divine precept — "Go thou 
 and do likewise." The advantages of a good example 
 arc every where acknowledged, because, by a secret 
 but powerful influence, it urges us to imitation. This 
 principle was so well understood by tiie Romans, that 
 they preserved, with the greatest care, the pictures of 
 their brave progenitors, as a means of exciting them 
 to emulate their heroic patriotism. Caesar never said 
 to his soldiers, " Ite," go on; but his animating 
 command was, " Venite," come on, or, follow me. 
 In tiie name of One, greater than Cffisar, the apostle 
 commands all who aspire to the immortal honours of 
 victory over the powers of darkness, " JJe ye followers
 
 PREFACE. 1* 
 
 of them who, through faith and patience, inherit the 
 promises." 
 
 It is not intended to present the subject of this 
 memoir as a perfect exemplar; but it may, without 
 exaggeration, be said, that by the grace of God he 
 was enabled, amidst the toils and changes of a long 
 life, "through manifestation of the truth, to commend 
 himself to the consciences of all men in the sight of 
 God." He maintained his integrity, and active 
 spiritual vitality, unto the end. 
 
 " If faults he had, they were sncli as made 
 No blot npon the picture. 
 A man immaculate we never knew." 
 
 That the life of our venerable friend was devoted 
 to the glory of God, the present ha[)piness and future 
 salvation of men, will be doubted by no one acquainted 
 with his indefatigable labours as a minister of Christ ; 
 and it is reasonable to suppose, that the Christian 
 public desire to become more familiar with the 
 private history of a man so highly distinguished for 
 usefulness, and so universally beloved. How far the 
 present volume may conduce to the proposed end, 
 must be submitted to the judgment of the reader, 
 from whose kindness the writer will hope, that its 
 moral tendency will shield both the work and i$s 
 author, at least from severe criticism. 
 
 The peculiar mental and moral characteristics of 
 Dr. Stanford, may be said to have consisted in an 
 unconquerable attachment to the cause of God and
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 truth ; and a faithful appropriation of all the powers 
 of his mind to promulgate the gospel, by proclaiming 
 the way of salvation, through Jesus Christ, from the 
 pulpit and from the press. In the first of these 
 departments of Christian effort, the following pages 
 will show, that he was surpassed by few men of 
 the present age; and as a pungent and lucid writer 
 en practical divinity, he is favourably known to the 
 Christian world. 
 
 By the death of Dr. Stanford, the cause of truth 
 has sustained a great loss; yet he was providentially 
 preserved to an advanced age, to bless mankind 
 by his precept and example. While, therefore, we 
 bow in submission before Him whose ways are 
 unsearchable, and his judgments past finding out, 
 we may hope, that the imperishable lustre of the 
 example which he has bequeathed will excite thou- 
 sands to the faithful and diligent performance of their 
 duty, that, when time with them shall be no more, 
 they may inherit the blessing. 
 
 The following work has been in part composed 
 from manuscri[)t volumes containing his diary, from 
 fugitive pieces, written at intervals, and from Fuch 
 facts, with regard to his i)ublic labours, as the author 
 could collect from his own memory, or that of friends. 
 In every instance, great pains have been taken to 
 give, in Dr. Stanford's own words, whatever was fit for 
 the public eye. From the very imperfect state of all 
 liis papers, it is evident that he could not have 
 written with a view to posthumous publication.
 
 PREFACE. XJ 
 
 It was originally ihc design of the writer to have 
 enriched the present work with a condensed history, 
 and lithographic views, of all the public institutions 
 in this city, in which Dr. S. laboured; and to have 
 furnished the statistics of New- York, from the days 
 of its original founders, materials for which had been 
 amply provided in a manuscript volume which Dr. S. 
 prepared, with incredible labour, in the examination 
 of the public and private sources of statistical infor- 
 mation; and which contained important facts relating 
 to the history of New-York, for more than one 
 hundred and eighty years past, which few other 
 men had the means of obtaining. This valuable 
 production, written in Dr. Stanford's usual style of 
 elegant pensnanship, was [)resented to the Common 
 Council of New- York, but is now, we fear, irrecover- 
 ably lost. Great disappointment has been experienced 
 in the impossibility of finding this book, notwithstand- 
 ing a most laborious and persevering search of about 
 six months; by which this memoir has been delayed 
 until the present time, and the author has been 
 compelled to have recourse to other sources for the 
 historical statements which are interspersed through- 
 out the jiresent work. 
 
 That the following pages, designed to promote the 
 interests of evangelical piety, may be acceptable to 
 the reader, and accompanie<l with the blessing of 
 God, is the sincere prayer, and the highest ambition, 
 of 
 
 THE AUTHOR.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 His Birth and Education 
 
 His tirst serious Impressions 
 
 Confirmation 
 
 Religious Tracts 
 
 Intercourse with Mr. Cleeve Hooper 
 
 Private Praver 
 
 The Pack of Cards buried 
 
 Prayerful Study of the Bible 
 
 Abandoned by his Uncle 
 
 Death of his Uncle and his Mother 
 
 Mr. Stanford removes to Haniniersniith - 
 
 His Call to the Christian Ministry 
 
 T»ge 
 13 
 14 
 15 
 16 
 17 
 18 
 19 
 20 
 21 
 22 
 23 
 24 
 
 CHAPTER H. 
 
 Conversation respecting Baptism 
 
 Examination of Infant Baptism 
 
 First Interview with the Rev. Mr. Wallin 
 
 Persecution for Conscience sake 
 
 Joseph's Coat of many Colours 
 
 He commits himself to the Lord 
 
 His Public Ordination to the Ministry 
 
 Address of the Rev. Abraham Booth 
 
 Commences his Diary 
 
 26 
 27 
 28 
 39 
 30 
 31 
 32 
 33 
 38 
 
 ^-^ 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 e removes to America 
 Call from the (Church in Providence 
 JJaptists, the Advocates of Liberty 
 
 JjCtter from tho Rev. Jonathan Edwards^ j^ 
 
 Visitation amongst the Poor • 
 
 Theological Students 
 
 Coismendtttiou 
 
 39 
 40 
 41 
 42 
 43 
 44 
 45
 
 COxNTENTi. 
 
 Orphans instructed 
 
 Mr. Stanford returns to New-York 
 
 Depressed in Spirit 
 
 The broken Heart healed 
 
 Sabbath Evening Lectures 
 
 Jewish Cuetom at Weddings 
 
 A Church constituted 
 
 Letter from the Rev. Rowland Hill 
 
 Conflagation 
 
 The Christian's Pocket Library 
 
 Indwelling Sin lamented 
 
 Self-dedication 
 
 Visit to a Backslider 
 
 Fin^ State of Infanta 
 
 Pape 
 46 
 47 
 48 
 49 
 50 
 51 
 52 
 53 
 55 
 56 
 57 
 58 
 59 
 60 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Unexpected Relief 
 
 Cast down, but not destroyed 
 
 Visit to Stamford 
 
 Despair, the Fruit of Sin 
 
 Warwick Association 
 
 Yellow Fever 
 
 Death of Mrs. Stanford 
 
 Effects of Yellow Fever in New-York 
 
 Commemorative Sermon 
 
 Daj of Thanksgiving 
 
 The Eucharist 
 
 Ordination of the Rev. Daniel Hall 
 
 'Hie moving of the Cloud 
 
 Re-appearance of Yellow Fever 
 
 Fears dissipated 
 
 Amiable Trait of Character 
 
 Urjm and ThuiuBoim 
 
 62 
 63 
 64 
 65 
 66 
 67 
 68 
 69 
 70 
 71 
 72 
 73 
 74 
 75 
 76 
 77 
 78 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Young Converts 
 
 Painful Tidings 
 
 The Pulpit preserved 
 
 His Congregation dispersed 
 
 Thoughts on the Thirtj-tliird Psalm 
 
 Letter to Dr. B. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Livingston 
 
 Letter to Captain W. 
 
 The Corner-stouc 
 
 Consequenco of Intempt-ranofl 
 
 Superior Church Muiic, a Blessinj 
 
 His Services mullipliud 
 
 The Log-book 
 
 Good Newg 
 
 TvphBi F«ver 
 
 86 
 81 
 82 
 83 
 84 
 85 
 86 
 87 
 88 
 89 
 90 
 91 
 92 
 93
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 xr 
 
 CHAPTER VI> 
 
 Meditation in tho Fielilfl 
 
 Retirement, Meditation, and Prayer 
 
 Sanctified Affliction 
 
 aetter to the Sh.iflsbnry Association 
 » — iiuptists, not addicted to Politics 
 
 Tlio Domestic Cliiiplain 
 
 Letter to Jolm Holmes, F.sq. 
 
 Merciful Interposition of Providence 
 -- " - V isit to Governor Bloomfield 
 
 A memorable Event 
 
 New Year'H Sermon 
 •..—Letter to Governor Bloomfield 
 
 JUitter from Governor Bloomfield 
 •^Now-York Alms-House 
 
 Hid Field of Labonr 
 
 Obstacles did not impede him 
 
 Gratitude of his Hearers 
 
 A Week's Work 
 
 AI)oniiding in the Work of the Lord 
 
 His Labours in the State-Prison 
 
 (Conversion of J. R. 
 
 Victory through Christ 
 
 CHAPTER Vn. 
 
 Worthy of Imitation 
 
 Letter to E. II. Esq. 
 
 Ont of Weakness he was made Strong 
 
 Blinislorial tiualifications 
 
 Gratuitous Distribution ol' Tracts 
 
 Letter to the liev. William Hallock - 
 
 Letter to C. G. S. 
 
 Submission to the Divine Will 
 
 The Facetious Dutchman 
 
 Ordination ofthe Rev. Daniel Sharp 
 
 A Painful .ArciiltMit 
 
 Essay on Walking with God 
 
 Sudden Illness 
 
 Letter to Captain W. 
 
 Tract on tiio Lord's Day 
 
 Hislorv of J. fl. 
 
 "15 
 97 
 96 
 90 
 lOO 
 101 
 103 
 104 
 105 
 106 
 107 
 108 
 110 
 111 
 112 
 lis 
 114 
 iin 
 116 
 117 
 
 lis 
 
 iiy 
 
 121 
 123 
 193 
 124 
 12G 
 126 
 127 
 128 
 129 
 KJO 
 
 i:u 
 
 13ri 
 K54 
 
 y^G 
 
 137 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Divinity Students 
 Tract on I'rofane Swearing 
 l^itter to Dr. H. 
 Interesiing Im-idcnt 
 J-etterto Mr. E. J. W. 
 Hiri Denire to be Useful 
 Walking by Faith 
 
 141 
 142 
 14U 
 145 
 140 
 14? 
 150
 
 XVI 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 I^tin Letter by O. P. 
 
 The Translatiou 
 
 The Debtors 
 
 Services unrewarded 
 
 Magdalen- Asylum 
 
 Conversion of J. W. C. 
 
 Happy Death of J. \V. C. 
 
 Satan and Ned Craig vanquished 
 
 Bridewell 
 
 Conversion of R. 
 
 A Prisoner in Chains 
 
 His Field of Labour enlarged 
 
 A 8trangcr on the Earth 
 
 Zeuo and Seueca 
 
 CHAPTER LX. 
 
 His first Sermon in the New-York HoBpital 
 
 Military Hospital 
 
 Grateful Sailors 
 
 A Magdalen reclaimed 
 
 Happy Death of J. R. 
 
 Dreadful Conseqiiencee of Infidelity 
 
 The Hatred of Ahab 
 
 Society of the United Brethren 
 
 Letter to A. B. Esq. 
 
 Schools in the State-Prison 
 
 Another Victim of Seduction saved 
 
 Catechism for the Young Prisoners 
 
 Triumphs of the Gospel 
 
 Ordination of Mr. Elliott 
 
 Horrible Consequences of Deism 
 
 Recantation 
 
 Converfiion of W. S. L. 
 
 School in the Hospital 
 
 Colonel ('olden 
 
 Chapel in the Debtor's Prison 
 
 Cold Water Toasts 
 
 Schools examined 
 
 The teni()t<'d Stranger 
 
 LeUer to Mr. U . S. 
 
 |{iot in the Stole Prison 
 
 air. Stanford in the Pulpit 
 
 Pag« 
 
 151 
 
 155J 
 
 153 
 
 154 
 
 155 
 
 156 
 
 158 
 
 159 
 
 160 
 
 161 
 
 162 
 
 163 
 
 164 
 
 165 
 
 166 
 167 
 168 
 169 
 170 
 171 
 172 
 173 
 174 
 176 
 177 
 178 
 179 
 170 
 181 
 
 ie2 
 
 183 
 184 
 185 
 186 
 
 187 
 188 
 189 
 190 
 19:i 
 194 
 
 CiL\PTER X. 
 
 Service!- in tho Pnblio Institutions 
 
 Dc'Mih of Mrs. Isabella (Jrahaiu 
 
 A Sudden Death 
 
 Funeral of Mrs. Fsiibella Graham 
 
 Converfion of G. B. 
 
 A Brand plucked out of tin? Firu 
 
 195 
 196 
 197 
 198 
 199 
 200
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 XVll 
 
 Interesting Casfis 
 
 Improvements in Bridewell 
 
 His Labours blessed 
 
 Another good Day's Work 
 
 Out-door Patients 
 
 Pardons 
 
 Sermon on the Death of Elijah Hunter, 
 
 Two Men under Sentence of Death 
 
 Letter from the Hon. Richard Stanford 
 
 Death of the Hon. Richard Stanford 
 
 New Aims-House 
 
 ftlanuscript Book lost 
 
 Resignation in Death 
 
 Sabbath Breakers converted 
 
 Letter from Governor Tompkins.-^ 
 
 Conditional Pardons 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 Visit of President Monroe — -"^ 
 
 The Chaplain highly commended 
 
 Conversion of H. T. 
 
 Happy Death of H. T. 
 
 Letter from Governor Clinton 
 
 The Sandbank 
 
 Letter from the Rev. Peter Mortimer 
 
 Conversion of W. L. 
 
 Letter from the Hon. Thomas J. Spicer 
 
 An Infant Disciple 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 The Gospel preached to Lunatics 
 Mr. Stanford's Labours appreciated 
 Six Sermons preached in one Day 
 Narrative of George Vanderpool 
 Extraordinary amount of Labour 
 
 PaM 
 20? 
 
 202 
 203 
 204 
 205 
 206 
 207 
 203 
 209 
 210 
 211 
 212 
 213 
 214 
 215 
 216 
 
 213 
 219 
 220 
 222 
 223 
 224 
 225 
 226 
 227 
 230 
 
 232 
 233 
 234 
 235 
 240 
 
 CHAPTER Xin. 
 
 Visit to the South' 
 
 Short Sermons 
 
 Funeral of John Withington 
 
 The South Baptist Church 
 
 Letter from the Rev. Dr. Cox 
 
 Diaua Sellick saved from the Gallows 
 
 241 
 242 
 243 
 244 
 245 
 251 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Letter to the Hon. Nicholas Brown 
 Concern for the Welfare of Mariners 
 Another Benevolent Plan proposed 
 
 253 
 254 
 S55
 
 XVIII 
 
 noNTF.NTS. 
 
 Importance of Educating Stamen 
 Letter from Captain Perry, U. »S. N. 
 Death of Wiiliajn Stanford 
 Awful Steam-Boat Explosion 
 Dying Experience of the Snfterers 
 A Memorial of the Lord's Goodness 
 Crossing the Bar of Old Age 
 Gratefnl Reminiscences 
 Benefits of Affliction acknowledged 
 His Children Fear the Lord 
 Christ the only Refuge for the Sonl 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Mr, Stanford's Portrait 
 
 The Murderer of Captain West 
 
 The grand Canal Celebration 
 
 Origin of the New-York House of Refuge - 
 
 Address to the Mayor and Corporation 
 
 Plan of the proposed Institution 
 
 Ways and Means 
 
 Concluding Remarks 
 
 Location of the House of Refuge 
 
 Dedication Sermon 
 
 Present Number of Inmates 
 
 The Prisoner's Companion 
 
 Merit di?claimeil 
 
 The Foundation re-rxaminod 
 
 Fare 
 
 250 
 2;')? 
 258 
 2r>!) 
 260 
 261 
 262 
 263 
 204 
 265 
 266 
 
 268 
 269 
 270 
 271 
 272 
 273 
 275 
 276 
 277 
 278 
 27J) 
 280 
 281 
 282 
 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 
 Death of the Rev. C. R. Duffle 
 
 Letter from the Hon. Charles Carroll 
 
 Gratitude for Divine Favours 
 
 Origin of the New-York Mcclianics' Fdiool 
 
 Good Advice to a Pliynir ian 
 
 Sabbath Schools 
 
 Closing the Year with Prayer 
 
 Rev. John Stanford. D. D. 
 
 Origin of the Institution for llie Inf-truction of Deaf Miitrs j 
 
 New-York 
 Letter from the lion. Philip llonc, T.n\. - 
 The Aged Christian's Cnbiiitt 
 The Everlasting Sabbatism 
 
 CHAPTER XVIL 
 
 Letter to Mrs. Wetmnre 
 
 Prayer for the Light of Life 
 
 The Slanforc! Lihiary at Bellcvne 
 
 Tract OB Morning and Evening I)fV(ition - 
 
 Letter to Mrs. A\clinorc 
 
 2P4 
 885 
 2e6 
 287 
 288 
 289 
 200 
 291 
 
 293 
 294 
 295 
 29(5 
 
 298 
 299 
 3(10 
 301 
 oG3
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 xU 
 
 'Hie F.bpnezer 
 
 Bigotry disclaimpcl 
 
 His last Annual Census 
 
 Tic Douloureux 
 
 The Domestic Chaplain 
 
 His last Letter to Mrs. Wetmore 
 
 Dr. Stanford's la.'st Tract 
 
 An Artecting Scene 
 
 Last Letter to the Rev. Joseph Grafton 
 
 Letter froni the Rev. .Toseph Grafton 
 
 Rev. Drs. Brownlee, Knox, and De Witt 
 
 Dr. Stanford's Decease 
 
 Letters of Condolence 
 
 Summary View 
 
 Letter from the Rev. Spencer H. Cone 
 
 APPENDLX 
 
 Proface 
 ...r-^-^Iemoir of the Rev. John Williams 
 
 Memoir of tlie Rev. Thomas Baldwin, D. D. 
 ifc-iBoir of the Rev. Richard Fiirniaii, D. D. 
 
 303 
 304 
 305 
 306 
 307 
 308 
 309 
 310 
 311 
 313 
 314 
 314 
 315 
 
 319 
 336 
 
 343 
 345 
 
 369 
 405 
 
 \
 
 M E M O I R. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 niRTII AND Et)UCATION F.ARLY nELIOIOUS IMPRESSIONS- 
 SETTLEMENT AT HAMMESUMITH. 
 
 t\ attempting to jjortray the character and life of a 
 devoted minister of Christ, it would seem natural to 
 exclaim in the language of the pious bard — 
 
 " Some aiig<d guide my pencil, while I draw, 
 \Vhiit nothing else than angel can exceed, 
 A man on earth devoted to the skies, 
 With aspect mild, and elevated eye. 
 Behold him seated on a mount serene, 
 Above the fogs of sense, and passions' storm ; 
 All the black cares and tu!inilts of this life, ' 
 
 Like liarmless thunders breaking at his feet, 
 Excite his pity, not impair his peace." 
 
 John Stanford, the only son of William and Mary 
 Stanford, was born October 20th, 1754, at Wands- 
 uorth, in Surry, Great-Britain. Until the tenth year 
 of his age, uc are not in possession of any facts which 
 wonld be interesting to tiie reader; but from that 
 period, his uncle, George Stanford, to whom he stood 
 licir at law, took charge of his education, and placed 
 jiim iu a respectable seminary. Here he experienced 
 many discouragements from the inattention and un- 
 kindnrss of his tutors; notwithstanding which, his
 
 14 HIS FIRST SERIOUS IMPRESSIONS. 
 
 industry and application enabled him to make a 
 creditable proficiency; and when about sixteen years 
 of age, he commenced the study of medicine. 
 
 His early life appears not to have been corrupted 
 by those vices which have proved fatal to millions ; 
 but, regulated by the influence of religious instruc- 
 tion, his deportment was characterised by a proper 
 degree of sedateness, and his mind frequently exer- 
 cised with conviction of sin in view of a future state. 
 At the age of fifteen he was so sensibly impressed 
 with thoughts of eternity, arising from the prema- 
 ture death of a classmate, that he ate or drank but 
 little for several days. These convictions, however, 
 were of comparatively short duration. 
 
 While residing in the seminary at Wandsworth, 
 he would sometimes, on a rainy Sabbath, collect a 
 number of the students in his own room, and thus, 
 by reading prayers and a printed sermon, encourage 
 that holy keejjing of the Lord's day which the public 
 worship of God was intended to promote. 
 
 In his sixteenth year he wrote two sermons, one 
 on *' the crucifixion,''^ founded upon Luke xxiii. 33, 
 and another on " the harmony of divine attributes,''^ 
 from Psalm Ixxxv. 10, " both of whicii," he says, 
 " when God had further enlightened my understand- 
 ing, I destroyed." — -This amiable but merely moral 
 course, in a mind peculiarly constituted and religiously 
 predisposed by the habits of education, naturally pro- 
 duced a Pharisaical spirit, and an unfounded hope of 
 salvation by the works of the law. 
 
 The death of his father (March 34, 1772,) when he 
 was only seventeen years of age, induced hitn to return 
 home to reside with his widowed mother, where, for 
 many months, he privately pursued his studies by 
 every means in his power, and with evident success. 
 
 From his diary it appears, that he was at this time 
 a mend>er of the ripisco|)al Church, and highly op- 
 posed to every one of a different persuasion. At this
 
 CONFIRMATION. 15 
 
 period a young i^cntleinan, (Mr. Potter) the son of a 
 hlglily respectable family, was reported to liavc left 
 liis ^'parish church,'''' and attended a chapel of the dis- 
 senters. Althon<^h young Stanford had no personal 
 intimacy with Mr. P. he appears to have been much 
 displeased with his conduct in this instance, and ac- 
 cordingly wrote him a letter, in which lie ridiculed 
 all sectaries, and unguardedly censured that practice 
 which he has since acknowledged to be, " the good 
 ways ot the Lord." This letter appears to have 
 afforded him a degree of present exultation, but was 
 subsequently followed with many tears. 
 
 Upon the subject of his own religious course, he 
 says — " Notice being given in the parish church, that 
 a confirmation would be attended by the bishop, at 
 Lambeth, about five miles from London, and that 
 candidates should apply to the curate for examination, 
 I was anxious to avail myself of the opportunity. I 
 was however advised first to consult my uncle, who 
 was also my ' god-father ,^ and upon whose favour 
 all my worldly prospects were susjjendcd. When I 
 mentioned the subject to him, he kindly replied : * it 
 is well enough that young people should be confirmed, 
 and as an opjiortunity offers, yes, you may go ; espe- 
 cially as some of your young companions will make 
 up a party, and that will serve as a holiday.' I then 
 rej)aired to the curate, who, being informed that I 
 could say ' the creed, the Lord's prayer, and the ten 
 commandments,' said, ' you are sufficiently qualified 
 for confirmation.' " He was accordingly confirmed ; 
 and upon this subject he remarks : — " This act did 
 undoubtedly very much contribute to the establish- 
 ment of my belief, that by my infant baptism I was 
 ' regenerated, made a child of God, and an inheritor 
 of the kingdom of heaven.' From this time I con- 
 cluded my moral state secure — nothing more was now 
 necessary, to make me a Christian. A most delusive 
 snaro to me — to thousands !"
 
 16 RELIGIOUS TRACTS. 
 
 His veneration for the Lord's day appears to have 
 been generally commendable. But, on a particular 
 occasion, he yielded to the earnest solicitations of 
 some young persons, to accompany them on a party 
 of pleasure upon the river. When returning they 
 were in imminent danger of being drowned, but 
 heaven interposed to save them from a watery grave. 
 Their merciful preservation at this time, made an 
 impression upon his mind, which effectually secured 
 him against every future temptation to desecrate the 
 iiallowed Sabbath of the Lord. Several years after 
 this event, he wrote a twelve page tract, entitled 
 " The Lord's Day," which has been widely circu- 
 lated, and is deservedly regarded as among the best 
 publications upon that subject. As an evidence of 
 his early labours in the tract cause, it deserves to be 
 recorded, that about fifty-five years* ago, he 
 published two tracts, in London, entitled *' Critk- 
 
 RIONS, WHEREBY THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN MAY TRY 
 THE REALITY OF HIS PROFESSION," and " ThE 
 
 Celestial Lxhabitant, or Christ dwelling in 
 THE Hearts of his People." They were gra- 
 tuitously and extensively distributed. 
 
 In relating the wonderful story of his conversion 
 to God, he remarks : — " The address of the widow 
 of Tekoah to king David, on behalf of his exiled son 
 Absalom, God ' deviseth means, that his banished be 
 not expelled from him,' (2 Sam. xiv. 14,) has indeed 
 been verified in my experience. Means, the most 
 simple, and least expected, arc often employed by 
 the Lord to produce the most important results; jiar- 
 ticularly in bringing sinners from the error of their 
 way, to taste the sweetness of redeeming love, and 
 
 * The London Rcliijions Tract. Society, wliidi is tii(! |)aront of all tli(v 
 principal Tract Societies ;it present existing in the world, coininenced 
 ita oj)<;r;itions in J7!)!>, wliicli was ninetetMi years after tiic time when Mi. 
 Stanford published the above named tracts.
 
 INTERCOURSE WITH MR. CLEEVE HOOPER. 17 
 
 rest beneath the covert of Iminanuel's wings. Such, 
 I humbly trust, iias been God's unspeakable goodness 
 to me, at a time when I was wrapijcd in pharisaical 
 security, ignorant of myself, and far, very far from 
 the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Under a 
 sermon, delivered by the Rev. Mr. Romaine, it pleased 
 God to manifest his grace to Mr. Cleeve Hooper, 
 who had been my classmate. Although in our aca- 
 demical intercourse no particular attachment was 
 developed, yet no sooner was Mr. Hooper brought to 
 the enjoyment of a hope of salvation through the 
 sacrifice of Christ, than he began to discover a deep 
 solicitude for my spiritual welfare. He therefore 
 made me a visit, dropped a few religious words in 
 conversation, on purpose to try tlie state of my heart; 
 which, notwithstanding my boasted morality, he easily 
 perceived was very far from being right with God. 
 Although he lived at a distance of eight miles, yet he 
 repeated his visits frequently — spoke of man's de- 
 pravity — the necessity of being born again — a total 
 renunciation of all human merit — complete redemp- 
 tion by the blood of Christ — and the absolute necessity 
 of faith, in order to ' walk with God,' and bear fruit 
 to his glory. These sentiments I did not take upon 
 me to contradict; but, I must confess, my heart arose 
 in opposition to them. Several months elapsed before 
 Mr. Hooper ventured to attack my strong holds of 
 self-righteousness, but, at length he presented the 
 alarming statements of the Bible respecting the holi- 
 ness, spirituality, and extent of the law of God, in its 
 precepts and demands — the insufficiency of our own 
 righteousness, and the absolute necessity of being 
 divested of all legal hopes; before the sinner will 
 submit to God, and be willing to accept of salvation 
 by the righteousness of Christ. This left a slight 
 conviction on my mind, and, from the passages of 
 Scripture which he produced in support of his own 
 sentiments, I was led to conclude that these things 
 
 2*
 
 18 PRIVATE PRAYER. 
 
 were true. I now began to feel a desire to know 
 myself, and to be saved from my sins. Mr. Hooper 
 perceiving he had at least obtained access to my ear, 
 and that I began better to approve of his religious 
 conversation, sent me Romaine's treatise on " The 
 Life of Faith," accompanied with an affectionate 
 note. On Mr. Hooper's next visit, he exphiined to 
 me the office of the Holy Spirit to enlighten the dark 
 mind, to testify of Christ, and to lead the soul into 
 happy communion with God. I felt much distressed 
 that I knew nothing of these things, and concluded I 
 was far from being in a state of safety. 
 
 " After the departure of my friend I retired to my 
 chamber with a desire to pray, in hope of obtaining 
 relief. 1 prostrated myself before the Lord, but my 
 mind was covered with darkness — not one suitable 
 thought did 1 possess of the majesty of the supreme 
 Being whom I was about to address. All was dark- 
 ness and confusion — 1 cried out, ' O Lord, 1 do not 
 know thee; how then shall I pray.' I arose with 
 conscious shame ; hastily left my chamber, and went 
 many days mourning over a hard, ignorant, unbeliev- 
 ing heart. A period this, whicli it is not probable I 
 shall ever forget, as it was the first time I might be 
 said to realize my fallen and sinful state. 
 
 " One day while reading the fifty-fourth chapter 
 of Isaiah, 1 received great encouragement from the 
 thirteenth verse : ' All thy children shall be taught 
 of the Lord ; and great shall be the i)eace of thy 
 children.' After this 1 retired for prayer, earnestly 
 pleading this gracious promise, and found thereby a 
 veiy great increase of earnest desires after the Lord. 
 1 con id not rest satisfied ; but j)anted after the enjoy- 
 ment of that real good, which I was unable to describe. 
 If walking the streets, at home, or abroad, I every 
 where f(;lt an cngagedncss of heart for spiritual bless- 
 ings unknown to me l)efore. While silting in my 
 chamber meditating upon the wonderful mercy of the
 
 THE PACK OF CARDtJ BURIED. 19 
 
 Lord, I cast my eyes upon a pack of cards, to the use 
 of which I had been f>reatly addicted ; 1 instantly 
 seized and carried them into the garden, and threw 
 them into a trench dug to receive some plants, and 
 covered them up. Tims I left the book of cards and 
 embraced the book of God, which I hope will be the 
 means of my enjoying more abundant and more 
 sublime pleasures. 
 
 " About this time my raind was greatly distressed 
 on account of having received the Lord's supper 
 when 1 was in an unconverted state, and merely as 
 constituting a public profession ; thereby, as I con- 
 cluded, having sealed my own condemnation, ' not 
 discerning the Lord's body.' 3Ioreover, my conduct 
 to Mr. Potter, tJie young gentleman already named, 
 gave me great disquietude, and had a tendency to 
 show me, how far my pharisaical zeal had influenced 
 me to throw stumbling-blocks in the way of others 
 who were concerned for their salvation. This subject 
 produced much uneasiness of mind, nor could I rest 
 until I had forn)ed an accjuaintance with him, and 
 acknowledged with regret that 1 was the author of 
 tiie letter already alluded to. It pleased God so far 
 to bless this resolution, that a mutual friendship was 
 produced, and we walked together many years in the 
 ways of Christian obedience. Glory be to the Lord 
 for this instance; of his sovereign goodness. 
 
 " As to the general exercises of my mind for several 
 months, hope and fear, pleasure and pain, alternately 
 occupied my heart. Sometimes cold and indifferent, 
 then warm desires expressed in the language of David, 
 ' O that 1 had wings like a dove, then would I fly away, 
 and be at rest.' About this time, my uncle invited 
 me to join a party of young persons to visit Vauxhali 
 Gardens, a place of carnal pleasure. This was not 
 only a strong temptation, but a source of great dis- 
 tress — my temporal interest 1 knew depended upon 
 his favour, and I had not fortitude suflicient to refuse,
 
 20 PRAYERFUL STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 although compliance created intense agony of mind. 
 In the garden I seemed as it" in the infernal regions — 
 music, singing, exhibitions, company, all, all was in 
 opposition to the state of my feelings, and filled my 
 heart with sonow. However, 1 found some consola- 
 tion in contemplating the alteration in my own mind, 
 for I had never before considered such amusements 
 as inconipatible with Christianity. This consideration 
 was the more welcome, as it enabled me upon scrip- 
 tural principles, to conclude, that God must have 
 produced this great and surprising change in my 
 o])inions and feelings." 
 
 Shortly after this, Mr. Hooper commenced a syste- 
 matic correspondence with Mr. S. which was blessed 
 of God as a means of his spiritual improvement in 
 the knowledge of Christ. The writings of Hervey, 
 Jones, Romaine, and especially a pamphlet, entitled 
 " A Drop of Honey from the Rock Christ," (the work 
 of Wilcox, one of the early Baptist ministers of Lon- 
 don,) were also very useful to him. But above all, 
 the sacred volume appears to have been the chief 
 source of his consolation. Through this celestial 
 medium, he was enabled to contemplate the person, 
 offices, vicarious sacrifice, grace, and promises, of the 
 l^ord Jesus, as exactly suited to his necessities. Thus 
 did the Holy Spirit mercifully conduct and shine upon 
 his soul, to dispel the moral darkness and to enable 
 him to say with David, " Into thy hands I commit my 
 spirit, for thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of 
 truth." 
 
 From this time his mind was directed to the pray- 
 erful study of the Holy Bible, in every part of which, 
 he seems to have discovered the glory of Christ, as 
 John beheld the apocalyptic angel, standing in the 
 midst of the sun. 
 
 Like the primitive Baptist, the public ministry of 
 John Stanford commenced amongst the poor. 
 
 Divine Providence so ordered it, that shortly after
 
 ABANDONED BY lilS L'NCU:. 21 
 
 Ills convers'on, lie was frequently in\ itod to visit the 
 sick and dying- ; and on these occasions lie i^enerally 
 used the Ibrm oi" prayer prescribed by the tpiscopa! 
 Church. But, upon this subject, he remarks, " being 
 one day requested to attend an unhappy man, whose 
 criminal indulgencics had prostrated his vital eneri^ies, 
 atid brou<^ht him to the gates of death; 1 found that 
 the form of prayer, although generally very excellent, 
 did not suit the peculiarities of his case." On this 
 occasion he for the first time, in the presence of 
 others, ventured to express his desires to God, by 
 extemporaneous prayer. 
 
 IN'ot enjoying the stated ministry of the Gospel in 
 his native town, he embraced every opportunity of 
 going to London, where, to his great edification, and 
 growth in grace; he heard the Rev. Mr. Romaine, 
 and other evangelical ministers of Christ. Here for 
 a time, he seemed to " lie down in green pastures,''^ 
 and to be led " beside the still waters;''^ but, as in the 
 case of Israel, who had no sooner passed over Jordan, 
 than they were met by the Canaanites, so, although 
 to him unknown, the hour and the powers of darkness 
 were at hand. — In his journal he remarks : — " Passing 
 over Wandsworth bridge in a very happy frame of 
 mind ; I was strongly tempted to question whether I 
 was a child of God, as I was exempted from those 
 afilictions to which in the Scriptures, the saints are 
 said to be appointed. Little did I then think I was 
 so near the furnace, much less, that I should wear 
 the badge of affliction so many years. By some un- 
 known j)ersons, it was intimated to my uncle, that 
 his nephew had become •' strangely religious, left his 
 church, and went after dissenters.''^ This intelligence 
 greatly exasperated him ; and one day as lie was 
 passing by my window, he saw me reading a religious 
 book, which had a tendency to confirm his suspicion, 
 and he withdrew his attention from me. From this 
 tiniG our intercourse was cut off', and I saw him no
 
 22 DEATH OF HIS UN' CLE AND HIS MOTHER. 
 
 more, until his death, which occiired after a few 
 weeks of confinement to his chamber ! On inquiry 
 concerning his affairs, 1 found he had altered his will, 
 left his property to an indifferent person ; and be- 
 queathed no more to me, than enough to answer the 
 requisition of the law in my favour as his heir. After 
 so many years sanguine expectation, at the very 
 period when his assistance seemed to be indispensably 
 necessary to my advancement in public life; to have 
 my earthly support fail, and my prospects suddenly 
 blasted ; was certainly a severe trial. Young in ex- 
 perience, I could not then penetrate the designs of 
 Providence in that event; but it afforded me great 
 satisfaction to feel entirely conscious, that I had not 
 procured this treatment by any imprudent or sinful 
 conduct ; but only, because I ' had become religious, 
 and had gone offer the dissenters.'' 
 
 " When subsequently I walked over those fields 
 which my late uncle had so often told me should be 
 mine, I confess that I felt a degree of disappointment; 
 hut I was assisted to reflect, that if my heavenly 
 Father knew that the possession of these fields would 
 have been for my good, I most certainly should have 
 inherited them. This consideration entirely recon- 
 ciled me to the dispensations of heaven, and enabled 
 me to say, ' Not my will, but thine be done.' 
 
 *' IJut no sooner was my uncle dej)osited in his grave, 
 and my mind in a great degree relieved from the 
 distress which his conduct towards me had produced, 
 than a far greater afiliction was prejiared for the trial 
 of my faith. My mother was now about forming a 
 second marriage, but she was suddenly taken very ill 
 with a bilious fever, and, within the time appointed 
 for her nuptials, she was conveyed to the silent toml). 
 
 *' This siulden and painful bcreavment, which de- 
 volved upon me, the charge of three sisters, the oldest 
 not more than twelve years of age, with but a dark 
 prospect before me, almost bowed me down to the dust.
 
 MR. STANFORD REMOVES TO HAMMERSMITH. 23 
 
 I5ut the Lord enabled me to adopt the prayer of David 
 — ' Guide me in the way in whicli I should go, for I 
 lift up my soul unto thee.' This aflliction was greatly 
 augmented by a near relative who took possession of 
 Tiiy mother's property, under a pretext of obligations 
 due to him from my deceased father, and we were 
 left not merely orphans, but destitute of the means of 
 support. — In the evening, while sitting alone in the 
 parlour, (piite disconsolate, and without an earthly 
 friend in whom 1 could confide, it pleased God sensibly 
 to apply to my mind this approjiriate and invaluable 
 j)romise — ' Verily thou shalt be fed.' Psalm xxxvii. 3. 
 it was indeed the voice of God, speaking comfort to 
 my disconsolate heart. True, the Lord by this pro- 
 mise did not say when, where, w ith what, nor by what 
 means I should be fed ; but it was enough for me at 
 that time to be assured, that a supply should be 
 granted. Nevertheless, during the ensuing two weeks 
 the cloud seemed to grow darker. I now made my 
 last visit to Samuel Naylor, Esq, attorney in London, 
 in order to settle my mother's aliairs. At the close 
 of business, and finding that I had been bereft of all, 
 Mr. Naylor expressed his generous concern for my 
 afflictions, and asked me what now were my pros- 
 pects ? I told him, that as to the result I was of 
 course ignorant, but that my reliance was wholly upon 
 the Lord. I then knew not that Mr. Naylor was a 
 professor of religion, lie replied, ' A minister who 
 keeps a boarding-school at the place where 1 have 
 my country-house ; is going to live upon an estate in 
 Northam|)tonshire, left him by his grand-father, and 
 if you choose to accept the settlement, I will secure it 
 for you.' To this I objected, having no property; 
 but Mr. Naylor generously engaged to become respon- 
 sible for me, and his oflcr was gratefully accepted." 
 
 Mr. Stanford's removal to Hammersmith was not 
 only attended with many temporal comforts, but ulti- 
 mately led to the establishment of a church in that
 
 24 HIS CALL TO THE CHRLSTLVN MLMSTRV. 
 
 place. Thus did the Lord show him, that his " way 
 is in the whirlwind, and the clouds are the dust of his 
 feet." In this tield of usefulness he continued to 
 lal)Our with successful assiduity, until the Holy Spirit, 
 the Providence of God, and the Church of Christ, 
 with united voice, called him to the more exalted and 
 responsible duties of the Christian ministry.
 
 CHAPTER ir. 
 
 UK liXAMINES THE VALIDITY OF INTANT BAPTISM JOINS 
 
 TUB CHURCH UNDER THE CARE OK THE RET. BENJAMIN 
 WALLIN — ORDAINED TO THE WORK OF THE MINISTBY— 
 <OMMENCES HIS DIARY. 
 
 Having detailed the prominent incidents in the his- 
 tory of young Stanford's life, up to the period Avhen, 
 surrounded with an accumulation of earthly cares, he 
 was thrown upon the Providence of God and his own 
 resources ; we shall present an extract from his diary, 
 which will disclose the exercises of his mind respect- 
 ing belicver^s baptism, at the time he made a public 
 profession of religion, and became a member of that 
 denomination which he continued to adorn, until, from 
 the toils of the wilderness, he was removed to enjoy 
 the substantial bliss of the paradise above. 
 
 A change of opinion is no uncommon event, even 
 amongst men of sound and discriminating minds. But 
 when such changes occur, and stand connected with 
 the voluntary sacrifice of every prospect of worldly 
 <.'rnohunent — when they sunder the dearest ties of 
 <-onsanguinity — and when, as in the case of young 
 Stanford, there is a voluntary relinquishment of the 
 strong prepossessions of early education — then may 
 it with truth be said, that the event not only demon- 
 strates the sincerity of the individual, but becomes a 
 practical commentary on the importance of the sub- 
 ject which occasioned the change. 
 
 " Truth, though sometimes chid 
 In painful lustre, yet is always welcome ; 
 Dear as the light that shows the lurking rock ; 
 "Tie the fair star, that ne'er into the main 
 Descending, lcad« us safely on through jtomay life." 
 «>
 
 26 CONVERSATION RESPECTING BAPTIS3I. 
 
 The aiitlior hopes that it will not be regarded as 
 invidious, but due to truth, to say, that in the iiistory 
 of the Baptist Church, events of a similar description 
 have already multiplied beyond computation ; and they 
 continue to recur with sucli frequency, as to have well 
 nigh ceased to be the subject of particular remark. 
 These repeated instances of change, from padohajdisvi 
 to believer's baptism, cannot, so far as the ministry is 
 concerned, be ascribed to the hope of greater pecuni- 
 ary advantage ; because that end, it is confidently 
 (jelieved, would in most cases be belter attained, by 
 remaining in the communion of any other evangelical 
 denomination. It is moreover an invariable practice, 
 to demand a scriptin-al account of the reasons which 
 have led to the change ; and no person can be ad- 
 mitted as a private member, much less as a minister 
 of the Baptist Church, unless he is able to point to 
 those parts of the Bible which prove the immersion* 
 of beUevers, to be, tite baptism of i/ie New Testament. 
 Upon this subject Mr. Stanford remarks: — " Edu- 
 cated in the Church of England, as by law established, 
 I was very warndy attached to its services. Mr. 
 Hooper, in conversation one day, asked me, If I had 
 thought on the validity of my baptism ? I replied, I 
 have no doubt of the validity of my baptism : the 
 rector performed the ceremony ; my uncle was god- 
 father; and my baptismal name is registered in the 
 parish church book. I do not deny, said Mr. II. 
 but that you nuiy have liad infant bajitism, but 1 
 wish to know if you believe that service to have been 
 commanded by the Lord, in the New Testament ? I 
 answered, that I had never thought of calling my 
 
 " Upon tlie nullioiity of ;iii Episcopal clergyman of lliis city, it ir> 
 gralifyiiir? to Ik; poiiiiilled to stato a fact, which is not goiierally known : 
 that; ■' In this conntiy, l)a])lisn) i)y innncr.sion, is of \f;ry IVeqnent re- 
 currence in the Protestant IOpisco|)al Church. 
 
 " The minister shall <//'/> the child or p(n'son to he liajitized in the water. 
 or pour water upon liim.' — liabiicks in tlic ojiccjor baptism.
 
 ..,..^.'JT BAPTISM. "27 
 
 ^)U|jtio..i in question, nor examined the scriptures on 
 the subject. More to i^ratify my friend, than from 
 any scruple in my own mind, I took the first oppor- 
 tunity to inquire into the scriptural authority for my 
 baptism. This, after imj)ortunate prayer to God 
 was performed, by the aid of the New Testament, 
 and a concordance ; vvhicii enabled me to turn to the 
 words, bapfizc, baptism, &c. &:c. To my extreme 
 moriification, search was in vain. I found that littlo 
 children were brou<^iit to .losus, and ho * blessed 
 them ;' but they were neither bai)tizGd by him, nor 
 by his disciples. i\lark x. IG. I found many pas- 
 sagoa where persons were said to be baptized, all of 
 thcni, professing to believe, Acts viii. 37 — 39, and xviii. 
 8 ; repent, Acts ii. 38 ; receive the word gladly. Acts ii. 
 41 ; and to, go on their way rejoicing. Acts viii. 39. 
 A moment's reflection convinced me, that in my 
 infant baptism, I had not possessed any of these pre- 
 requisites ; because unconscious of the act, it having 
 been performed by others on my behalf, and not by 
 any previous consent of my own mind. I likewise 
 found, that whereas, by my said baptism, I had been 
 declared to l)e, ' A child of God, and an inheritor of 
 the kingdom of heaven :^ it had proved a delusive 
 snare to ray soul, and prevented me from seeing the 
 absolute necessity of the NEW BIRTH, BY the Spirit 
 OF God. From this time I began to consider myself 
 an unbaptized person ; but tliat I was now entitled to 
 the ordinance of baj)tism, seeing I had obtained mercy 
 ' to believe to the saving of my soul.' Up to this time 
 I had never witnessed the administration of the ordin- 
 ance according to the practice of the Baptist Church. 
 " Perceiving an error in my former profession, I 
 proceeded in a further examination of the subject. 
 With the New Testament in my hand, 1 found that 
 Christ had declared, * My kingdom is not of this 
 world;' but, THE CiirRCFi of England, is established 
 by the law of the land ; and forms a material part of
 
 28 FIRST INTERVIEW WITH REV. MR. WALLI.N. 
 
 the civil constitution ; and the king of the reahii is' 
 styled, ' Head of the Church, and Defender of 
 THE Faith.' I also recollected that the Church of 
 England considers the whole nation as baptized ia 
 infancy; and every individual, good and bad, to be 
 members; and consequently required to receive; tlie 
 Lord's supper. Whereas the members of the Church 
 of Christ, as described in the scriptures, are said tu 
 be, ' rcgcncrale'.V — •' called out of the world^-^^ ?icw 
 crealurait'' and acknowledging no other Lord and 
 King, but Jesus Christ. 
 
 •' 1 next examined the doctrinal articles of the 
 Church of England, and could not but approve of 
 them as really good. I recollected also, many ))iou!« 
 and learned ministers, and others of that comnjunion, 
 to whom I felt the most aftectionate attachment. 
 Duty, however, was a personal concern ; and what 
 ever others might do, according to what they liud 
 been taught, it became me to listen to the voire of 
 Jesus — ' What is thai to thee, follow thou me.'' This 
 I wished to do in humility and love; at the same 
 time, possessing the most sincere regard for other:^, 
 though not united to the same denomination with 
 myself. I can truly say, ' Grace, mercy and peace, 
 he tcith the Israel of God.' At this time I was in- 
 troduced to the Rev. ]5enjarnin AVallin,* of London ; 
 and carefully examined the principles and practicesi 
 
 * The Rev. Bonjamin Wallin, was for more than foity years, the devoted 
 and useful pastor of tlie Baptist church in Maze-poiul, London. As a 
 minister of the Gospol he was laUorioiis, atfoctionate, and successful ; nrtr 
 were his efforts to promote the glory of («od and tlie moral interests of tint 
 world, circumscribed by the boiiiids of iiis own congregation, lie was i 
 man of public spirit, aud sincurely atla<;hed to all goinl nicti. — .Mr. Wallin 
 was one of the ministers who, in 1772, petitioned parliaiiiLMit, to relievo 
 dissenters from the oppressive law whicii required tlicm to subscribe Id 
 the articles of tin,' Cluiich of England. As an author he connnenced hi^ 
 career in 174(5, and attained considerable celebrity. Mis '• Pious Meuii>- 
 rials" — " Memoirs of a Young (jentieman, intended as a warning to 
 Ueists," and several other eijually meritorious works, give ample evideuo 
 uf his fervent piety, and of a sound aud discriminating mind.
 
 PEIlSnCUTION FOR, CONSCIEXCE SAKE. 29 
 
 of the church over wliicli he was pastor, and found 
 them to correspond with those described in the New 
 Testament. I therefore resolved, in the fear of God, 
 to unite with that peo[)le, and accordingly offered 
 myself as a candidate for membership. As ' tmth 
 the heart jiian bdicvt'th unto rh^-hteousiwss,'' so ' icitk 
 the mouth confession is made vnlo salvation.'' (Rom. 
 X. 10.) I tiierefore declared before the Church, what I 
 believed the Lord had in mercy done for me ; and was 
 accepted, baptized, and received into the fellowship 
 of that community, as a baptized cliurch of Christ, 
 where I enjoyed much of the power and presence of 
 the Ijord Jesus. 
 
 " Many years have passed away since my public 
 baptism; I have frequently and conscientiously ex- 
 amined the principles upon which I then acted ; I have 
 also had a more extensive acquaintance v»ith the 
 different religious denominations of Christians, and a 
 more deep [jenetration into the word of God ; and 
 although I am f\ir from believing that Baptist churches 
 are in a stale of perfection, yet I cannot but still ap- 
 prove of that denoniination, as nearest to the truth, as 
 it is in Christ, and rejoice in the profession I have 
 made." 
 
 Added to the loss of his uncle's valuable estate, (to 
 which he was the lawful heir, and which had repeat- 
 edly been promised to him,) in consequence of his 
 leaving the Episcopal Church, and attending the 
 ministry of dissenters; he now exj)erienccd much of 
 that unkindness which, alas! too often frowns upon 
 those who conscientiously believe that Christ and his 
 apostles tvcre Baptists ; and that therefore duty to God 
 requires them to imitate his example. But, regard- 
 less of pecuniary losses, and unyielding amid the re- 
 proaches of his relations and former friends, and the 
 odium which his change of sentiment on the subject of 
 baptism occasioned, he seemed with holy magnanimity 
 to say : — 
 
 3*
 
 30 JOSEPH'S COAT OF MANY COLOURS. 
 
 " Hast thou the cross for me endur'd, 
 And all the shame despis'd ? 
 And shall I be ashain'd, O Lord, 
 With thee to be baptiz'd ? 
 
 " Didst thou the great example lead, 
 In Jordan's swelling flood ? 
 And s'.iall my pride disdain the deed 
 That's worthy of my God?" — 
 
 From the foregoing narrative, it docs not oppcar 
 that liis conversion can be refered to any particttlar 
 period, bat that the Lord led him step by slop, like 
 as it was with Ephraini ; '■' I loved him, and called 
 my son out of Egypt. 1 taught Ephraim also to go, 
 taking him by the hand; 1 drew him with cords of 
 love, and with the hands of a man." (Hosea xi.) His 
 convictions of sin were not as |)ung-ent and overuhehn- 
 ing as do sometimes precede the joys of a hope in 
 Christ; " nevertheless," he remarks in his diary ; " the 
 God of my mercy has done that for me which I could 
 not have performed for myself. ' IVIicreas 1 wan 
 Mind, now I see.^ If 1 were not the Lord's, surely 
 he would not liave dealt thus kindly with mc. (jlory 
 be to his unbounded mercy anil unchanging grace!'* 
 
 The subsequent parts of this narrative, must neces- 
 sarily exhibit a diversified scene. His call to the 
 ministry — public ordination — success and discourage- 
 ments — his private and public alHiction:< — leaving his 
 native country — emigration to America — connections 
 — travels — friends and foes — these, with their attend- 
 ant hoi)es, fears, pleasures and pains, have in sucii 
 close succession attcnd(;(l his steps, that he was ac- 
 customed to say, that Providence, l>y its vicissitudes, 
 seemed to have furnished him with " a Joseph's coat 
 of many colours." 
 
 Although like David, he was permitted to " sing,^^ 
 both " of mercy and Judg/nni/,'^ and to testify his grati- 
 tude to that Almighty Saviour by whom he had often
 
 HE COMMITS IIIM.SELl' TO THE LOKl). -il 
 
 l)cen miraculously preserved, " nevertheless," he re- 
 marks; "I have dniuk deep of the truly bitter cup; 
 my storms have been more violent tlian fall to the 
 common lot of men ; but when d(;prived of the crea- 
 ture, the liord has made u[) the loss in the enjoyment 
 of Himself, and proved to mo ' a friend, that stickdh 
 closer than a brother.'' " 
 
 The suljjoincd extracts may serve to describe, the 
 Jiiilit in which he contemplated the prospective duties 
 of life, and the ultimate solemnities of a dyini»- hour. 
 '' My future prospects, whether tem|)oral or spiritual, 
 private or public, 1 most cheerfully leave with that 
 iTood and gracious Shepherd, wiio hath hitherto been 
 my guide and unchangeable friend. BIny tliy visita- 
 tion preserve my heart from sin, and my life from 
 (;vil, that 1 may walk before thee in the light of the 
 living.'' At a subsequent period, and when treading 
 the declivity ol' life, he retnarks: " My death, in some 
 form, is as certain as the decree of God. The time, 
 the place, the means, v.ith every attendant circum- 
 stance, 1 leave to be ordered by infinite wisdom. I 
 have known much of mankind, of books, of the world, 
 and something of my own heart, and 1 cannot but 
 consider it a most important ])oint, rightly to draw the 
 lines of life, so that they may t(M-minate in a happy 
 death. - To Jesus, who lived and died for me, I re- 
 sign the circumstances and the event of my decease, 
 Ixdieving that he will graciously bestow upon me that 
 faith which will sustain me in the solemn jiour." In 
 this holy expectation he was not disappointed. Having 
 thus early formed his pur()oscs, ui)an the divine plan, 
 of faith in Jesus Christ — he believed /?n///y — hned/f» 
 rrnilij — prayed earnest Ij/ — walked humbly — laboured 
 (lilii>enilj/ — wait(.'d patientlj/ — and died triumphantly, 
 for God was with him. 
 
 " A Ijglit \v;i-! tliore, 
 Whose beam was kindled iVoiu above."
 
 32 HIS PUBLIC ORDIXATION TO THE BIIXISTllY. 
 
 The following abstract of the account of the public 
 ordination of Mr. Stanford to the work of the Chris- 
 tian ministry, was found amongst his papers, and 
 will, it is hoped, be interesting to the reader. 
 
 OIIDER OF EXERCISES. 
 
 " Prayer by the Rev. John Reynolds, — Introductory 
 address by the Rev. W. Clarke, — Confession of faitli 
 by Mr. Stanford, — Hymn, and charge to the minister, 
 by the Rev. Abraham Booth, — Prayer by the Rev. R. 
 Burnham, — Sermon to the church by the Rev. T. 
 Davis, — Hymn, — Concluding prayer. 
 
 " After tlie public reading of, the call to the pas- 
 toral office from the church of Christ in Hammer- 
 smith to the Rev. John Stanford; the introductory 
 address, &c. was delivered by the Rev. V/illiani 
 Clarke, A. M. who then requested John Stanford 
 publickly to declare his acceptance of the call of this 
 church, and also to give a public testimony of his 
 views of the doctrines revealed in the Bible; and of 
 the order, and practices of the primitive churches." 
 
 After a very able document upon this subject, but 
 which is here omitted for want of room, the Rev. Mr. 
 Clarke rose and said — 
 
 " "^rhe church having given an account of the steps 
 by them adopted relative to the call of our brother to 
 the pastoral office; and whereas he lias signified his 
 acceptance, and has now witnessed a good confession 
 of his faith before many witnesses ; we do therefore 
 proceed, in the name of the Lord Jesus, by the laying 
 on of our hands, and by prayer; to invest him with 
 the pastoral office over you as a church." 
 
 The Rev. Abraham Booth, Rev. John Reynolds, 
 Rev. R. Burnham, and Rev. T.Davis, then proceeded 
 to lay hands upon the pastor elect; while the Rev. 
 Williuni Clarke oflcred the ordaining prayer.
 
 ADDRES.S OF TIIK RKV. ABRAHAM BOOTH. 33 
 
 Abstract of the address dclivorcd to the piislor by 
 the Rev. Abrahatn Booth, A. M. 
 
 " 1 shall commence the duty assigned to tno on this 
 occasion, hy reading to yoi;, my brother, the second 
 verse of the fourth chapter of the second Kpistle to 
 the Corinthians. — 
 
 " By manifcstuiion of the (ruiJt, commending oursdccs 
 to every man''s conscience in the si<rltt cf God. 
 
 " When I contemplate the Aposth; Pun!, as the 
 most honoured and useful servaiit of tlie Lord Je^us, 
 in spreading the glories of divine grace, 1 can hardly 
 forbear wishing, like Austin, to have beheld liim in 
 the pulpit ; if, thereby, 1 might form a more correct 
 idea of his doctrine and manner of preaching. Yet 
 Mich a wish is quite unavailing; and indeed, the 
 gratification ol' it quite unnecessary. For that in- 
 comparable man, in his several epistles, has drawn 
 his own character both as a Christian and as a 
 minister of Christ. In the words of our text, we 
 have the representation of Paul in the pnlpit. His 
 grand business is, to manifest the initk. What is his 
 immediate and first aim.'' It is to approve himself 
 to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 
 Paul, my brother, is therefore a pattern for your 
 imitation. 
 
 " Your business is to ' manifest the truth.' Truth 
 is a just representation of facts, whether it relates to 
 the primary ideas of our own minds, or to objects re- 
 cited by others. All falsehood is, denying that to be 
 fact which really is fact, or asserting that to be fact 
 which is not fact. This definition of truth, concerns not 
 only such facts as are discoveraltle by the light of rea- 
 son, but such as are peculiar to revelation. There 
 is, however, something in the sacred writings which, 
 by way of eminence, is called ' the truth,' and whicli 
 is mentioned in our text, and deserves our particular 
 regard.
 
 34 ADDRESS OF THE REV. ABRAHAM BOOTH. 
 
 " Tliero are certain doctrines founded on fa^..., 
 which arc of an immutable nature, and these, by way 
 of eminence, are called ' the truth.,'' and comprise the 
 doctrine of salvation by Jesus Christ. Gospel truths, 
 and the reality of the facts on whicii they are founded, 
 show the adorable wisdom, power, and glory of God; 
 and you, my brother, are bound to search the scrip- 
 tures, and endeavour to understaiid theiii and their 
 iinmediato connection. Among theao factH are tho 
 nrarvellousi character of God, and that ho made nnd 
 governs the world. Upon these truths ail the doc- 
 trines of divine revelation are founded. BJy youni^ 
 brother, you are to study these truths as a )>uin, as a 
 Christian, and particularly as a minidcr. If you do 
 not stud}' these truths, with their nature and tendency, 
 it is not to bo expected that you will commend them 
 to others in your ministry. For you arc not only to 
 study the truth, but, according' to the example of 
 Paul, to manifest the truth to others. This is to bo 
 the great business of your ministry, for it is ' the 
 truth,'' which is appointed of (iod to enlighten the 
 unders^tanding, and awaken the conscience, under the 
 influence of tho divine Spirit. The truth of which 
 the apostle speaks, and which will comibrt the hearts 
 of your hearers, stands in direct op])osition to error 
 and falsehood; and which, in the preceding part of 
 this verse he calls ' The hidden tilings of dishonesty ; 
 walking in craftiness, and handling the word of God 
 deceitfully.'' No man ought to be countenanced as a 
 minister of Christ that is fourul guilty of this fault; 
 or who conceals a part of the truth of (iod's word, or 
 makes a false representation of it. You are, then, to 
 Qnanifest ' the truth,'' the ivhole truth, every part oi' 
 which is precious. 
 
 " Labour to become acquainted with the doctrines 
 contained in the scri|)tures, that you may be able to 
 ' teach others also.' IJut remember that you arc not 
 always to dwell on some particular and favourite
 
 ADDRESS OF THE REV. ABRAIIABI BOOTH. 35 
 
 points, but deliver the wliole truth in all its variety. 
 Vou are not to give a hoily of divinitij in a sermon, 
 nor an account of all the articles in your creed ; lor 
 this uould be very injudicious. Carefully avoid that 
 ambiguity in language which would leave the people 
 at a loss to know your real sentiments. 
 
 " In the whole of your ministry, resolve to be free 
 from the imputation of handling tiie word of God 
 deceitfully. 
 
 " Here let me lay before you a caution or two. 
 Take care, that under pretence of being open and 
 explicit, you do not degenerate into dogmatism, or 
 become personal in your addresses. In the pulpit, 
 you have to do rather with characters than with 
 persons. You are bound, in faithfulness and in duty, 
 to declare, that drunkards, covetous, self-righteous 
 men, shall not inherit the kingdom of God: but you 
 must not single out any particular jierson before you ; 
 for you will then become ungenerous, and the consc- 
 (piences will be injurious. 
 
 " Carefidly avoid all language which is low and in- 
 elegant ; but study ' to fiml out accepiahlc ivords,'' that 
 your ministry may not become contemptible. Never 
 think of doing good, but as you preach the plain truth 
 of God. 
 
 " The iirst end the apostle had in view, v.as, to 
 ' conimcnii liimscif to every mmi's conscience.'' This 
 shows us the integrity and o])enness of his heart 
 towards the children of God, and to the consciences 
 of all men. The more you keep God, trutii, and the 
 consciences of men in view, the more peace will you 
 have in your own mind ; the fear of man will be dis- 
 carded, and the greater probability will there be of 
 your success in the work. 
 
 " The first thing I would mention as an advantage 
 fiom this way of preaching is, you will be careful 
 what kind of texts you choose for your discourses. I 
 will venture to say, that a minister, whether old or
 
 -30 ADDRKSS OF TIIK IlEV. ABRAHA.M BOOTH. 
 
 young, who takes what may he comparatively called 
 mysterious texts, does so, more to show his own sup- 
 posed abilities, than to commend the truth of God to 
 the consciences of men. How many are there, who, 
 to show their dexterity, take historical facts, and en- 
 deavour to make them speak evangelical truth:?, 
 which they were never intended to utter. I recom- 
 mend you, therefore, to avoid that fanciful. and vain 
 disposition to which young men are more inclined 
 than those who have been long in the ministry. In 
 my younger days I myself was guilty of this fault, 
 whidi now I very much deplore. 
 
 " Again, the more you keep the approbation of 
 conscience, and the favour of God, in your eye, the 
 more careful will you be to study your text and 
 to manifest the truth which it contains; that the 
 understanding and the conscience of your hearers 
 may be duly enlightened, feel its authority, and God 
 himself approve your labojirs. My brother, you have 
 first of all to do with the understanding ofyour hearers, 
 !ind as there is a glorious harmony and influence in 
 divine truth, it must certainly 0[)erate on the will. 
 Therefore, preach in simj)!icity, the unadulterated 
 truth as it is in Jesus, and leave the event to the 
 pleasure of God. 
 
 " Again, the more you keep the approbation of God 
 and conscience in view, the more earnest and engaged 
 will }ou be in the work of your ministry. I do not 
 mean, by speaking as loud as you can, to show that 
 vou arc in earnest ; for a person may have a very 
 trilling frame of mind, and utter a great deal of non- 
 sense while speaking very loud. I v.ish you to have 
 !<uch a sense ofyour subject, that you may speak in a 
 persuasive manncsr, and convince your hearers that 
 you are in earnest. If you believe what you say, 
 and wish the conscience of the people to be properly 
 affected, this will surely make you in earnest; ibr 
 that man must be under a strange influence who is
 
 ADDRESS OF THE REV. ABRAHAM BOOTH. 31' 
 
 hot roused, when lie considers tliat he has to do with 
 truth, with conscience, and with God. 
 
 " Further, the niore yon keep the approbation of 
 conscience, and the i^lory of God, in view, the more 
 sserioiis and devotional will you be, when you preach; 
 consequently you will be preserved from levity. When 
 U man gives loose to wit and low comparisons, sO 
 that the most serious of his hearers are tempted to 
 smile, we must certainly imagine, that God and con- 
 science are out of sight. Remember then, that in the 
 pulpit you do not forget your station as a minister, 
 and become a mountebank. I have no jealousy over 
 you, but think it my duty to exhort you. If you gain 
 not the serious attention of your hearers, you have no 
 great reason to expect success. 
 
 " You are to address the people who hear you, as 
 though there were no other people in the world i; 
 preach to them, as well as before them. If you keep 
 the approbation of God and conscience in view, you 
 will be better pleased to tind any of your hearers go 
 away with the language of the publican, ' God be 
 merciful to me a sinner,' than admiring your compo- 
 sition or your del? very. If a sinner goes away out of 
 lonceit of himself, abhorring himself as a wretch that 
 deserves to perish ; or if others depart, in love with 
 Christ, and a disposition to pray in secret, you will 
 undoubtedly have received the approbation of God. 
 
 " The more you keep the approbation of God and 
 conscience in viev/, the more you will i)ray for your 
 people in secret. He who neglects this duty, is an 
 unfaithful pastor, and must prove a Useless labourer. 
 " If you preach the whole counsel of God faithfully, 
 you must expect to be treated by some as an Arme- 
 nian — if you assert the unchangeableness of salvation 
 lor those who, though undeserving, yet believe in 
 Christ, you must expect to be reproached by others 
 as an Antinomian. But, be not discouraged: the 
 U'stimonvofGod and conscience will bear vou through^ 
 
 4
 
 38 COMMENCES Hid DIARY. 
 
 " In^the government of the church, or when you 
 visit your congregation, especially the unfortunate or 
 the sick, still remember you liave to do with con- 
 science and with God. 
 
 " Now, my dear brother, though I might have en- 
 larged upon all the particulars on which 1 have ad- 
 dressed you, I must conclude, in the words of Paul to 
 Timothy : — ' I charge thee before God, and the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead 
 at his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word; 
 be instant in season, out of season ; reprove, rebuke, 
 exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. Watch 
 thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of 
 an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry,' and 
 the God of grace be with you. Amen." 
 
 This was followed by a very interesting discourse, 
 delivered to the church, by the Rev. Tiiomas Davis, 
 A. M. from lleb. xiii. 8 — " Pray for us.''' The ser- 
 vices were then closed with appropriate sacred music, 
 and with prayer. 
 
 With the termination of this solemn service, it may 
 be said, that the public labours of the Rev. Mr. 
 Stanford commenced. 
 
 At an early period, he appears to have been im- 
 pressed with the importance, especially to Ministers, 
 of keeping a diary, or journal of the exercises of their 
 minds, the duties they have performed, and tho 
 changes through which they have passed ; yet he 
 made no attempt of this kind until the year 1798. 
 
 lie then, owing to a variety of circumstances, re- 
 ceived a very strong conviction of its utility, as a 
 means of correcting his errors, humbling his heart, 
 and promoting a spirit of vital pie I y. In this practico 
 he continued without interruption, nearly thirty-fives 
 years.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 MR. SfTANFOnD REMOVES TO AMERICA INVITED TO BECOMU 
 
 THE PASTOR OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CIILRCH IN PIIOVIDENCE 
 RETURNS TO NEW-YORK VARIOUS TRIALS. 
 
 Extracts from his diary will be introduced into the 
 subsequent pages of tiiis memoir; but it is deemed 
 proper, first to present a brief account of the more 
 ])rominent events of his life, from the time of his or- 
 dination to the work of the gospel ministry, in the 
 year 1781, until the commencement of his journal in 
 1708. 
 
 A few years subsequent to his entering upon the 
 duties of the public ministry, the mind of Mr. Stanford 
 became much dissatisfied with his situation ; and after 
 importunate prayer to God, and with the advice of 
 several ministers, and other friends, he resolved to 
 visit America. He accordingly left England, January 
 7th, 1786, and after a very tempestuous voyage, in a 
 bad ship, and repeated escapes from the most immi- 
 nent dangers, he arrived in Norfolk, in Virginia, on 
 the 16th of April; where, though a stranger, he was 
 cordially received, and experienced numerous expres- 
 sions of hospitality and kindness. Having the most 
 patisfactory letters of introduction to several persons 
 of respectability in the city of New- York, he for- 
 warded them to the gentlemen addressed; and while 
 waiting for their answers, cmj)loyed himself in the 
 education of a few classes, composed of the children 
 of some of the most opulent families in the place. In 
 a short lime, he received an invitation to visit New- 
 "S'ork ; and on the 4th of November, 1786, he sailed 
 from Norfolk, and in the course of the following month, 
 by the aid of his friends, he opened an academy in
 
 40 CALL FROM THE CHURCH IN PROVIDENCi:. 
 
 this city, which, by the smiles of Providence, was in 
 a few months raised to a very flourishing- condition. 
 Shortly after his arrival in New- York, he occasionally 
 preached for the venerable John Gano ; pastor of 
 THE FIRST Baptist church, in Gold-street; who 
 bestowed upon him the affection and attentions of a 
 father. 
 
 In the year 1787, Dr. James Manning, (the first) 
 president of Brown University, in Providence, Rhode- 
 Island, having resigned the charge of the Baptist 
 church in that place, Mr. Stanford received three 
 successive invitations to sj)end a year with them ; but 
 as to the propriety of the step, there was a ditlerencc; 
 of opinion amongst his friends in New- York. The 
 annual income from liis academy was one hundred 
 per cent, above the compensation offered by the 
 church; his academial duties were less arduous, and 
 gave him more entirely the control of his time; be- 
 sides which, he would not be burdened with those 
 solicitudes which are connected with the increasing 
 responsibilities of the pastoral office. Nevertheless, 
 after many prayers, and great mental conflicts, he 
 concluded to remove to Providence, for the time 
 specified. His first sermon to that church and con- 
 gregation, was delivered from Psalm cxxii. 9 ; " 7it-. 
 cause of the house of the Lord our God, I icill seek thi/ 
 good.^^ The congregation gradually increased, and 
 many were converted to the truth. 
 
 This being Ihc oldest church in the state, of any 
 religious denomination, and the fik.^^t Baptist 
 CHURCH constitu I'ED IN AMERICA, (founded A. D. 
 1630,) he employed part of the first nine months, in 
 writing her history ; which was afterwards printed 
 in England. 
 
 The original document is in our possession; but i« 
 here omitted, as it may be found in the first volume 
 of the " llrsiouY of ihe Baptists," published by 
 the Rev. David Benedict, A, M. Sec page 473-— 485,
 
 BAPTISTS, Tlir: ADVOCATES OF LIBERTY. 41 
 
 As this is the first clinrch in wiiicii Mr. Stanford 
 was ensjaged as a stated preacher in America, the 
 subjoined view of their beautiful edifice is here pre- 
 sented, for the purpose of gratifying those who have 
 never visited the spot, where, to employ the lan- 
 guage of Governor Hopkins ; " Roger Williams justly 
 claimed the honour of being the first legislator in 
 the world, who fully and elfcrtually provided for, 
 and established a free, full, and absolute liberty of 
 conscience."* 
 
 The building is eighty feet square, and much of 
 the beauty of correct taste, is displayed in its internal 
 arrangements. The roof and galleries arc supported 
 by twelve fluted pillars of the Dorick order. The 
 ceiling is a continued arch ; but intersected immedi- 
 ately over the galleries. The steeple is one hundred 
 and ninety-six feet in height, and is by competent 
 judges regarded as among the most beautiful speci- 
 mens of architectural symmetry in the United States. 
 
 * That the Baptists were the first who practised npon the principle of 
 unrestricted religions liberty, and that tiiey have never denied to others 
 the Ireedoni v. hich they claimed for themselves, is a fact which onght to 
 be nnivorsally known. Not only dining the eventful period, when iSten- 
 nett and Piggot, with many others, appealed to the throne of Phigland, 
 and plead for the continuance of ihoso glorious principles of British law, 
 by which the equal civil rights, and inalienable privileges of religious 
 liberty were guaranteed to the nation; but also throughout the English 
 revolution of i()88, and in the colonial, and revolutionary history of our 
 own country, the Baptists have, as a denomination, every where distin- 
 jfuished themselves, by zealously contending for the honour of God, and 
 the rights of man. This eulogy has seldom been denied to the Baptists, 
 by any writer of great research. Catholics and Protestants have admitted 
 the fact, aad upon the pages of impartial history, it will indisputably 
 perpetuate that praise, to which tliey are so justly ('utided. 
 
 In the mind of Roger Williams, a Baptist, we find the germ of these 
 principles, and that enlightened zeal which procured for the colony of 
 Rhode-Island the charter, by which, for the first time, mankind were 
 
 ? Tactically taught the salutary lesson of nniccrsal rrlis;ious liberty. Mr. 
 Villianis was not only the founder of tiie state of Riiode-Island, but in 
 consequence of his friendly intercourse with the Indians, he became the 
 means of saving all the American colonies from the desolating storm 
 which was gathering around the council-fires of " tlic <;rand confederacy," 
 and would, in all probability, but for the providential interference of Mr.. 
 W. have swept from our shores the last traces of our pilgrim fathers. 
 
 4*
 
 42 LETTER FROM REV. JONATHAN EDWARDS. 
 
 The clock and bell were both manufactured in Lon- 
 don ; the weight of the latter is 2387 pounds. The 
 following original inscription on the bell, is a charac- 
 teristic relic of olden times — 
 
 " For freedom of conscience, this town was first planted, 
 Persuasion, not force, was us'd by the people; 
 This church is the oldest, and has not recanted, 
 Enjoying and granting, bell, temple, and steeple." 
 
 About this time he received the following letter 
 from the venerable and Rev. Jonathan Edwards. 
 
 ''New-Haven, May 5, 1788. 
 
 *' REV. SIR, 
 
 *' Your obliging favour of April 29, was duly re- 
 ceived, lam happy to hear of your prosperous jour- 
 ney and agreeable reception at Providence. Please 
 to present mine and Mrs. Edwards' compliments tu 
 Nicholas and John Brown, Esqrs. I shall be ever 
 proud to acknowledge the family connection, and 
 intend a visit at Providence, when Mrs. Edwards can 
 find it convenient to accompany me. 
 
 *' I am glad to hear of the intention of your neigh- 
 bouring ministers to form a ministerial society. You 
 may depend upon it, that properly conducted, it will 
 be of real and great advantage. This I say from my 
 own experience in the society of which I am a mem- 
 ber. We meet on the Tuesday of every month, 
 and continue together till after dinner on the next 
 day. We choose a moderator and scrihe, and our 
 meetings are opened and closed with prayer by the 
 moderator. A sermon is preached publicUly. After 
 sern on, critical remarks are made on the sentiments, 
 the style, and the delivery of the sermons and other 
 public exercises. Next are considered the theological 
 questions, commonly three, proposed at the preceding 
 meeting. In the consideration of them, every one 
 offers his sentiments in his turn, by the direction of
 
 VISITATION AMONGST THE TOOR. 43 
 
 the moderator. After the questions ; every one reads 
 either extracts from some author, or a sermon, or 
 some other composition of his own. On the extracts, 
 sermons, and oilier com|)()sitions, critical remarks 
 are made, as on the sermon preached. These exer- 
 cises commonly fill up our time to the length before 
 mentioned. It is a fundamental rule of the meeting, 
 to attend closely to business, and not to suffer our- 
 selves to be diverted by compliments or company, or 
 l)y common, vague conversation. Pso man is allowed 
 to speak in the meeting, before rising and obtaining 
 leave of the moderator. Our criticisms on the ser- 
 mons and other performances of the members of the 
 meeting, in which great brotherly freedom is used, 
 are made before the members of the meeting only. 
 The other exercises are not private. 
 
 " It is nine years since our meeting, called, a meeting 
 for mutual improvement, was established ; and I see 
 no disposition in the members to discontinue it. The 
 questions we have discussed, are some of the most 
 important in the circle of theology. 1 most sincerely 
 wish you and the other gentlemen success and plea- 
 sure in your proposed meeting. 
 
 "With my respectful comi)liments to Dr. Manning, 
 and with most ardent wishes for your success in the 
 ministry, 1 am, 
 
 " Your brother in the Gospel, 
 
 " JONATHAN EDWARDS.' 
 
 During his residence in Providence, Mr. Stanford 
 devoted a considerable part of his leisure, to promote 
 the comfort and moral iuijirovement of the poor, 
 without regard to denominational distinctions. For 
 the better discharge of this duty, he divided the town 
 into three parts, which enabled him, in addition to his 
 unavoidable jiarochial visitations, to see and converse 
 with nearly all the poor in the town about once in 
 each month. Such fidelity, and zeal in pastoral ser«
 
 44 THEOLOGICAL STUDENTS. 
 
 vice, did not loni^ escape observation, and he was ac- 
 cordingly elected as a trustee of Brown University, 
 and at the following annual commencement, on the 
 3d of Sejjtember, 1788, he was honoured with the 
 degree of Master in the Arts. The following is an 
 extract from the minutes of the corporation of the 
 college. 
 
 " At the annual meeting of the corporation of the 
 college in Providence, Sept. 3d, 1788. 
 
 " Voted and resolved. That th€ Rev. John Stanford 
 be elected, and appointed to the place of a trustee in 
 this college; and that he be requested to accept the 
 same. 
 
 " Voted, That the honorary degree of A. M. be 
 conferred on the Rev. John Stanford. 
 «♦ Attest. 
 
 " SOLOMON DROWN, Dept. Sec'ry." 
 
 As this institution has always been entirely literary 
 in its character, and there being no theological de- 
 partment, Mr. Stanford, anxious to assist the rising 
 ministry of his denomination, received into his study 
 a small class of students in divinity, whom he gratuit- 
 ously instructed.* This laid the foundation of a 
 course of theological lectures, which have since been 
 enriched with the fruits of nearly thirty years expe- 
 rience and study, and have, during the interval, been 
 frequently read to divinity classes, many of whom 
 survive their venerable instructor, and nearly all of 
 them have occupied prominent stations in the Church 
 
 * This was probably among the earliest systematic efforta for the ex- 
 cludively theoloij^ical instruction of" Baptist students in America. Tho 
 first academy of tiiis kind was that of Air. Eaton, opened in 17i36, and 
 closed in 17()7, and at wiiicii were educated, President Planning, Dr. 
 Samuel Jones, and Dr. Isaac Skillnian, and numy otiicrs, whose names 
 are now passin;Lj into oblivion, but into the fruit of whose labours tha 
 Bapti.sts of tills i^eneration have entered, and whose "record," losttliough 
 it ba amongst men, " is ou high."
 
 COMMENDATIOr<. 45 
 
 of Christ, and are known, as successful labourers in 
 the- Lord's vineyard. 
 
 During' his residence in Providence, the glory of 
 God, the welfare of his Church, the interest of the 
 college, and the good of the community generally, 
 seem to have been objects very dear to his heart ; of 
 which the following document is ample testimony. 
 
 " To all, whom these presents may concern. The 
 underwritten, inhabitants of the town of Providence, 
 in the state of Rhode-Island, and Providence Plan- 
 tations — who are nienibers of, or l)elonging to, the 
 congregation usually worshipping in the Baptist 
 church ; 
 
 " This certifies, that the Rev. John Stanford, a 
 native of Great-Britain, now a citizen oftliis state, in 
 pursuance of a unanimous request from the Baptist 
 church and congregation in this town, came and 
 began to preach here, in the spring of the year 1788 ; 
 and before he had resided here one full year, received 
 a unanimous call from the said church and society to 
 settle witii them, as their jiastor. That from his first 
 coming among us, to the present time, his preaching 
 lias received the universal approbation of the said 
 church and society, and manifestly tended to their 
 edification and increase. His private character, so 
 far as we have been witn(>sses, has well coniported 
 with the evangelical doctrines of his public ministry. 
 Irreproachable in his morals — of polite manners, and 
 easy of access- — diligent in his studies, and laborious 
 in his visits to rich and ^;oor, without distinction — 
 his life, while with us, has been an amiable pattern 
 of the Gospel minister. 
 
 " Providence, Nov. 15, 1789." 
 
 This document is signed by ninely-Jive persons, but 
 it is not thought necessary to print their names iu 
 this place.
 
 46 ORPHANS INSTRUCTED. 
 
 His residence in this town, owing to the affectionate 
 solicitations of the church, and a numerous circle of 
 friends, was protracted three months beyond the 
 stipulated period ; after which, at the particular invi- 
 tation of his friends in New-York, he thought it his 
 duty to return, and resume his former employment in 
 the education of youth ; and in preaching the Gospel 
 of Christ, wherever God in his providence should ap- 
 point. " Here," he one day said to a friend, " I hav«; 
 lived many years, passed through scenes of sorrow 
 and of joy, and I am now in a station of usefulness 
 which seldom falls to the lot of any man ; and here 
 I expect and hope to continue to live, and to die iu 
 the Lord." 
 
 Among other evidences of his Christian philan- 
 thropy, the education of destitute youth, may be men- 
 tioned as a prominent trait. During the last twenty 
 years of his life he was seldom without some poor 
 orphan boy as an inmate of his family, to whose moral 
 and religious education he was much devoted. Seve- 
 ral of tiiese have amply rewarded his generosity and 
 toil, by exemplifying the spirit, and praiseworthy 
 deportment of their tutor. Some of them have risen 
 to great respectability, and continue to lill important 
 stations in the community. — In his anxiety to promote 
 the welfare of the rising generation, Mr. Stanford 
 had few equals. He seems to have adopted, as a 
 favourite maxim, the saying of a Christian of the 
 sixteenth century: "Give them education, that their 
 lives maybe useful; teach them the fear of the Lortl, 
 that their death may bo happy!" 
 
 What is called, a roving, versatile disposition, ap- 
 pears not to have been amongst the frailties of Mr. 
 Stanford. The changes of his life seem, in a remark- 
 able manner, always to have been ap|)oiuted and 
 regulaf(!d l»y the providence of God. !?y this arrange- 
 ment in the <livine economy, he was experimentally 
 taught, that Jehovah '■^ halli his ivcnj in the whirlmind,
 
 MR. STANFORD RETURNS TO NEW-YORK. 47 
 
 and in the storm, and that the clouds are the dust of his 
 feet-'' 
 
 His afllictions, though often severe and protracted, 
 were not only necessary, and designed for his personal 
 benefit, but greatly contributed to jjis future useful- 
 ness in administering consolation to others. 
 
 It is related of the good Mr. Whitefield, that during 
 a visit in the north of England, he one day went into 
 a glass-house, where he saw one of the workmen take 
 a piece of glass and put it into one burning furnace, 
 then he put it into a second, and then into a third. 
 " Why," said 3Ir. Whitefield, addressing the man, 
 " why do you put it into so many fires?" " Because, 
 Sir, the first and second fires were found not to be 
 sufficiently hot to produce the degree of transparency 
 which I wish, and therefore I j)ut it into a third fire." 
 Strikingly does tliis anecdote illustrate tlie dealings of 
 the Almighty with his people, they njus^t be purified, 
 if necessary, even " so as hij flrc;'^ until freed from 
 dross, they become prepared for their Master's service. 
 
 From this, let yonng Christians, and especially 
 young 3Iinisters, be encouraged, nndcr their most 
 distressing calamities, to trust in the Lord. The wis- 
 dom and the goodness of God may be discovered as 
 truly amid, scenes of darkness and tribulation, as in 
 •the sunshine of prosperity. Nevertheless, if at the 
 i.'ommencement of their journey the Lord were to 
 discover to them the thorny patii they have to tread, 
 discouragement, if not despair, would generally be the 
 consequence. Hut, by gradually unfolding his will, 
 day by day, and step by step ; he girds them with 
 strength, keeps them dependent on his arm, and in- 
 spires tliem with a disposition to give him the honour 
 due to his name; as their Redeemer, their guide, 
 and never-failing friend. 
 
 Mr. Stanford's return and settlement in the city of 
 New-York, was particularly marked by the smiles of 
 the Almighty. Every desirable encouragement was
 
 48 r»EPRBssED IN sriRiT. 
 
 afforded him, and in a few months the academy 
 under liis charge, attained to considerable celebrity. 
 The year following, he experienced a very severe 
 mental affliction, which we shall here briefly describe, 
 especially, as his deliverance from it, seems to have 
 been a remarkable token of the Lord's goodness; and 
 with the hope, that the recital may be made useful to 
 others. At this period his mind, thoiig-h generally 
 cheerful, became suddenly dejected and gloomy. 
 
 " Alas ! 
 How oft will doubt and fear arise 
 E'en in the soul redeem'd and free : 
 for clouds will fly o'er brightest skies, 
 And brecies swell the culniest sea." 
 
 ^ ery seldom could he be prevailed upon to preach J 
 the reading of his IJible was apparently without 
 cflect; and private devotion dwindled into formality. 
 The presence of his friends became a burden ; and he 
 s^eems particularly to have coveted solitude. Public 
 ^vorship aflorded him no satisfaction, and he frequently 
 immured himself in his chamber during the whole 
 day. llcpose departed from his j)illow, and " the 
 pairis of hell gat hold upon him.'''' In this deplorable 
 state of mind, he not only doubted the sincerity of his 
 character as a minister and a Christian, but such was 
 the depression of his spirit, that, during several weeks, 
 he was entirely disqualified for the duties of life. He 
 did not dare to deny the being of a God ; but was led 
 ^o fir as to (juestion the divine authenticity of the 
 -<cri[)tures, ancl the existence of grace in the soul of 
 any man. But, he that setteth bounds to the raging 
 ?eas interposed, by his Holy Spirit, to arrest the 
 progress, and destroy the power, of the tempter. 
 One nu)rning, after examining the senior class, he 
 returned to the desk, with despair brijoding over his 
 heart ; when the following inquiries presented them- 
 selves to his mind : — " Docs not God support and
 
 THE BROKEN HEART HEALED. 49 
 
 I'.ourish your body by natural food ? and is it not 
 more necessary that he should feed and nourish 
 your soul, which is the noblest work of his hand ? 
 And has not the Lord said, ' lam the bread of life : he 
 that coinelh to me^ shall never hunger T and has not 
 God also said, ' Ask^ and ye shall receiveT " While 
 these thoughts were revolving in his mind, the hour 
 tft dismiss the scholars arrived, and he went into his 
 chamber to pray. But all he could say, was, " Think 
 upon me, my God, for good." A short but acceptable 
 prayer : — 
 
 " Oratio brevis penetrat CcEllim." 
 
 The next day, being the Sabbath, he went to hear 
 the late Rev. Dr. John Mason, concerning which he 
 remarks : " I had no spirit to follow him in prayer. 
 Ht3 opened his Bible and read his text — ' He hath 
 sent 7ne to himl up the broken in heart.'' This text, to 
 md was never more forcible ; and when he described 
 the broken heart, and the ability of Christ to bind 
 up its wounds, my unbelieving fears took wing; my 
 heart leaped for joy ; and from that moment 1 have 
 never had a doubt of the authenticity of the scriptures, 
 nor of the ability of Christ the Lord, to save to the 
 nttcrviost.''^ Thus ended, by the mercy of God, an 
 overwhelming temptation, that had lasted through five 
 tedious months ; and he has often said, when allud- 
 ing to this subject: " I firmly believe that it was to 
 me, however painful, one of the most advantageous 
 trials I ever endured. For it not only showed me 
 more of the evils of my own heart, and the ability and 
 the glories of the Saviour, but prompted me, with the 
 greater care, to examine the evidences on which the 
 truths of revelation are founded, as well as to explain 
 them for the benefit of others." 
 
 It is-tlie opinion of all experienced Christians, that 
 sanctified afilictions are special mercies ; because they 
 humble the pride of the heart, correct extravagant 
 
 5
 
 50 SABBATH EVEKlNG LECtUftES. 
 
 expectations, restrain the indulgence of sensu&lity, 
 and lead the soul to God. Hence said David, " It is 
 good for me that 1 Itave been ajfiicted ; that I might 
 learn thy staiutesy (Psalm cxix. 71.) And similar 
 to this, have been the acknowledgments of Manasseh, 
 H^zekiah, Job, Paul, and millions of souls, now in 
 glory. 
 
 No sooner was the mind of Mr. Stanford relieved, 
 than the tone of his animal spirits and general health 
 were gradually restored, and he again resumed the 
 duties of his station, with gratitude and pleasure. On 
 the 4th of August, I'^Ol, he received the following 
 letter, signed by twenty-three gentlemen, of ditierent 
 religious denominations, inviting him to deliver a 
 course of Lord's day evening lectures. 
 
 " To the Rev. John Stanford, A. M. 
 
 *' DEAR SIR, 
 
 " We, the subscribers, from a confidence in your 
 abilities, as well as disposition, to promote the spiritual 
 and temporal interest of mankind in general, and 
 your friends in i)articular : And many of us having 
 lately experienced much pleasure and satisfaction in 
 your lectures; do therefore request the favour of you 
 to officiate for us in your ministerial capacity, on the 
 ensuing Lord's day evening ; and as often after that as 
 convenient, in a place provided for the purpose in Fair- 
 street, known by the name of liojjkins' Long-Room. 
 '' New-York i August ^th, ITUL" 
 
 With this request he very cheerfully complied. 
 The introductory discourse was, " Onthc ulilityoftkc 
 gospel to support the ftiind, under the sujjerings of hu- 
 man life.''^ This sermon was afterwards published at 
 the expense of those who heard it, but is nov/ out of 
 print. 
 
 On the 10th of June, 1700, Mr. Stanford wa^^ 
 married to Miss Sarah Ten EvcU, the daughter (?f
 
 JEWISH CUSTOM AT WEDDINGS. 51 
 
 Abraham Ten Eyck, Esq. who was at the time of his 
 death an officer in the Custoni-llonse, and a vestry- 
 man of Trinity Chnrch. 15y tliis pious lady, Mr. 
 Stanford had four cliihiren, only one of whom sur- 
 vives. In less than eight years, this union, which was 
 cemented hy tlie strong ])rinci|)le of Christian affec- 
 tion, and stood identified with the fond recollection of 
 many endearments, was sundered by the touch of 
 death. Mrs. Stanford died in New-York during the 
 prevalence of the yellow fever, and was buried in 
 Trinity Church yard, on the Gth of September, 1798. 
 (To this subject, reference will again be made in the 
 proper place.) How solemn the thought, that all the 
 most valued and interesting connections which we 
 form on earth will be dissolved by time, and how soon, 
 is known only to tlim who is the sovereign Disposer 
 of all events. Amongst the Jews, it is in some 
 countries the custom at weddings, after the Rabbi 
 has finished the ceremony, to bless a glass of wine, of 
 which the bride and bridegroom drink, and then 
 dash the glass against a stone, upon which a double 
 triangle, and the letters Mem and Tetli are inscribed. 
 This is an abreviation of the words 3Iazel Tov, i. e. 
 good fortune. This ceremony is intended to express 
 their desire, that as the fragments of the broken glass 
 cannot be re-united, so their union may continue in- 
 dissoluble until death. It is also calculated to teach 
 them, that their mutual happiness depends upon the 
 continuance of life, which is frail and brittle as glass. 
 Such was the painful experience of Mr. Stanford, in 
 the sudden loss of the youthful companion of his life 
 and cares: but though bereaved, it is not known that 
 he murmured against the righteous dispensations of 
 heaven. As resignation to the divine will was his 
 interest, so it was a duty which he aj)pears always to 
 have performed with cheerfulness. He did not com- 
 plain of what was, for faith, taught him to see the 
 h(^u4 qf God in every event of Providence ; and he
 
 52 A CHURCH CONSTITUTED. 
 
 seems not to have been anxious about that vviiich was 
 future, because he saw all events in the hand of 
 God. 
 
 Having purchased a lot of i^Tound in Fair-street, 
 (now Fulton-street,) Mr. Stanford erected upon it a 
 building, which he occuj)icd as an academy and lec- 
 ture room. It was opened on the 27th of February, 
 1795, with a discourse on 2 Chronicles vi. 18. " ///// 
 God in very deed diccll with men on the earth ? Be- 
 hold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain 
 thee; lioio much less this house 2ehirh 1 have built P^ As 
 most of his hearers had no stated place of vv^orship, he 
 consented, at their request, to perform service three 
 times on each Lord's day ; nor was it long before lie 
 had the happiness of believing, that the I^ord, by his 
 spirit and word, had brought many sinners to drink of 
 the cup of salvation. In the latter end of April, a 
 number of persons who had received the blessings of 
 the gospel under his ministry, expressed their earnest 
 desire to be ba{)tized, and to enjoy the fellowshij) of a 
 Christian church. This appears to have been ni- 
 garded as a sui)ject of peculiar importance, and one 
 intimately connected with tlio honour of God. To 
 the throne of grace therefore did he repair, with fre- 
 quent and fervent supplication, for " that irisdom 
 which is pro/ifable to direct, ^^ and, as a rational means 
 of ascertaining the will of the Lord, he consulted seve- 
 ral intelligent ministers, who united in the opinion, 
 that the indications of Divine Providence made it suf- 
 ficiently evident, that these belio^'ers in Christ, ought 
 to be baptized, and publickly constituted as a church. 
 In consequence of this, and the concurrence of other 
 Christian friends, they were accordingly formed into 
 a gospel church, on the 31st of May, and at the same 
 time Mr. Stanford was installed as their pastor. 
 This was a solemn and impressive event, and all 
 present, but especially the incumbent, seemed to 
 realize that : —
 
 LETTER FROM REV. ROWLAND HILL. 53 
 
 " 'Tis not a cause of small import, 
 The pastor's care demands ; 
 But vvliat might fill an angel's heart, 
 And liird a Saviour's hands." 
 
 The followini^ year Mr. Stanford visited the an- 
 nual Association of ministers and representatives of 
 churches, assembled at Pleasant- Valley, about eighty 
 miles from New- York. Into the fellowship of this 
 body, the newly constituted church and her pastor, 
 were cordially received. During the session of the 
 Association, Mr. Stanforddelivercd a discourse, found- 
 ed upon 2 Corinthians viii. 23. " Whclker our brethren 
 he inquired of, they arc tlic messengers of the churches, 
 and the glory of Christ.'''' 
 
 During this year, Mr. Stanford was elected a 
 member of the " Pennsylvania Society for Promoting 
 the Abolition of Slwery, the Relief of free 
 Negroes unlawfully held in Bondage, and for im- 
 proving THE condition OF THE AFRICAN RaCE." 
 
 Among Mr. Stanford's numerous correspondents, 
 it is gratifying to find the name of the venerable and 
 Rev. Rowland Hill. The following letter from his 
 pen, will no doubt be read with pleasure. 
 
 " REV. AND DF.AR SIR, 
 
 •' Your packet from Mr. Naylor was not received 
 till yesterday evening, with information that if an 
 answer was returned, it must be by this evening. I 
 have time, therefore, but for a few lines. — The plan 
 of our Missionary society is upon the most enlarged 
 principles. Among Christians of all denominations, 
 who rejoice in Christ Jesus, worship God in the spirit, 
 and have no confidence in the flesh ; and should it 
 please God to plant any Christian churches by their 
 instrumentality, it is our solemn determination to 
 leave the settlement of such churches in regard to 
 their outward government, among themselves, as they 
 shall judge most consistent with the word of God. In 
 
 5*
 
 54 LETTER FROM REV. ROWLAND HILL. 
 
 this corrupted state of things, for want of more of the 
 mind of Clirist, little matters sometimes create great 
 differences ; but, blessed be God, when the work of 
 regeneration is perfected in glorification, all will be 
 eternal unity and love. 
 
 " The Church of Christ is but one in the esteem of 
 him who is the living Head of influence among all 
 those who believe on his name. We being many, arc 
 one body in Christ, and every one, members one of 
 another ; — as all the elect of God are converted and 
 saved by the gratuitous love of God, which is in Christ 
 Jesus; so surely they will prove that they are his 
 disciples by loving one another. 
 
 " We are not without the same awful attacks with 
 us, as with you, from infidels of every description, 
 against the glorious truths of the word of God. Still, 
 however, we have reason to be thankful, that the 
 word of God runs, and is glorified ; and not a i'cw are 
 the instances of an influence going with the word of 
 life, so that infidelity itself can never deny, that it 
 must be of God. The Lord is giving us to see that 
 he needs no human powers for the promotion and 
 protection of his eternal truths ; when he works, 
 none can let. 
 
 " Much of the mischief done to the cause of Chris- 
 tianity, has been from j)retended Christians theni- 
 selves. If human reason, in its corrupted state, is to be 
 the judge of divine revelation, if man's righteousness 
 is to be preferred to Christ's righteousness, and hea- 
 then morality is to be substituted for the work of the 
 Holy Spirit on the souls of the elect, then the truths of 
 the Bible are only calculated to |)uzzle and distract. 
 
 "America has been famous lor the power ol" religion. 
 O that the Spirit of the Lord may again dosreuil on 
 her ministers, and send them forth with that flaming 
 zeal for the glory of God, as that thousands under the 
 influence of a divine power, may fall down and 
 acknowledge God is in them of a truth.
 
 CONFLAGRATION. 55 
 
 " Gotl is humbling the pride of our nation, daily ; 
 all our judgments we well deserve; the curse of a 
 continued war is most righteous in his hands, who is 
 ever just. 
 
 " I have sent you some account of our present 
 j)rocecdings in tlie enclosed printed addresses. May 
 the Lord stir you all uj) to be very zealous for the 
 Lord of hosts. Our time is short, and we have nnich 
 to do. When saved ourselves, should we not agonize 
 for the salvation of others ? Had not many things 
 called this day for my attention, J should have been 
 glad to have been more particular. 
 
 " Some attempts have been making by the Mis- 
 sionary society to call up the attention of the Jews. 
 1 send you some of our papers. 
 
 I <' 1 am, llev. and dear Sir, 
 
 " Vours sincerely in our common Lord, 
 
 '• ROWLAISD HILL. 
 
 " London, Feb. 25, 179G." 
 
 On the morning of the 8th of August, an alarming 
 circumstance occurred, by wiiich, but for a merciful 
 Providence, ?^L'. Stanford must in a few minutes have 
 been bereft of his earthly all. Shortly after he arose, 
 an unusual smoke was seen issuing from the eaves 
 of an adjoining bake-house, which in a few minutes 
 was enveloped in flames, and with several of the sur- 
 rounding buildings, entirely consumed. His dwelling- 
 Jiouse, thoi!i:li within a few feet of the conflagration, 
 was mercifully j)rescrved; but the adjoining part of 
 the building, occupied as a i^lace of worslii]), was 
 considerably injured. 
 
 " Behold!''^ saith the prophet Amos, (vii. 4,) " the 
 Lord called to contend hij fircy This is certainly one 
 among the greatest earthly calamities. The burning 
 of a city, or even a single dwelling, with all its tumult 
 of concomitant distress, is one of the most dreadful 
 spectacles which this world can olfer to human eyes.
 
 56 THE christian's pocket library. 
 
 This is particularly true, when contemj)lated as the 
 act of a sin avenging Providence. We have an in- 
 stance of this in the destruction of London, on the 
 llth of September, 1C66, where, in a few hours, de- 
 solation roiled her burning waves, over scenes of 
 prosperity and pleasure ; and mirth and frivolity 
 were exchanged for lamentation and woe. 
 
 The year 1796 appears to have been noted, for many 
 of those afflictive incidents, by which the previous and 
 subsequent parts of Mr. Stanford's life were distin- 
 guished. Nevertheless, he received the most gracious 
 and repeated assurances of the divine favour, in the 
 increase of his church and congregation. During this 
 year, a part of his time was occupied in preparing, 
 and printing two volumes, entitled, " The Clirisiiaii's 
 Pocket Library.''^ The principal design of which 
 was, to afford to the youthful readers of that day, a 
 work, at once entertaining and evangehcal. In this, 
 Mr. Stanford was in no ordinary degree successful. 
 As an instance of the peculiar ingenuity with which 
 lie exemplihed the adage: ^^ Onnie fnlif piinefiwi, qui 
 miscuit utile du/ci;^^ the vignette uj)on the title page, 
 (though not original) is both beautiful and instructive. 
 The centre exhibits the figure of the adorable Saviour, 
 accompanied by Mercy and Justice, the latter of 
 whom poises a pair of scales, one of which contains 
 the two tables of the moral law ; the other, a bubble, 
 as the appropriate emblem of man in his unrenewed 
 state, and who, when weighed in opposition to the 
 law of God, is ''found wanting^ Justice is then 
 represented as receiving the cross, from Christ, as 
 the allusive figure of his vicarious sacrifice, and 
 dropping the point of her sword, she acknowledges 
 her claims to be cancelled. On the right of the 
 Saviour, Mercy is seen, receiving the olive-branch, 
 as the emblem of " peace on earlli, and good tviU to 
 menf^ and upon the cloud, immediately beneath the 
 feet of Christ, is inscribed that most consoling dccla-
 
 INDWELLING SIN LAMENTED. 57 
 
 ration, " I will have mercy." The poetic descrip- 
 tion of this frontispiece, by " Eiixeno," may serve 
 further to illustrate its beauties. 
 
 •' SiiiJ Justice, ' Man, I'd fain know what yon weigh, 
 If weight, I spare you; if too light, I slay,' 
 JIan ieajj'd the scale. It nioniited. ' On my word,' 
 (Said Jl'stick) ' less than nothing! whore's my sword?' 
 ViKTiij- wastiiere, and her small weight would try. 
 The seale, unsunk, still kick'd the heani ou high. 
 Mekcy, the fairest dove that ever flew, 
 From Calv'ry hrought a branch of crimson hue : 
 Aloft it sent the scale on t'other side, 
 Man sniil'd, and Justice own'd — • I'm s;itisfied.' " 
 
 Although it is believed, that Mr. Stanford never 
 realized any adequate pecuniary eniolunient from the 
 ))ublication of this work, yet he had the paramount 
 satisfaction of knowing, that it was highly acceptable 
 to the Christian coniuiunity, and that in many in- 
 stances it contributed to the spiritual improvement 
 and comfort of imnjortal souls. 
 
 On the first page of his diary for the year, we find the 
 following truly pious remarks : — " Of all the human 
 creatures of the Lord, 1 see and feel myself liio most 
 unv/orthy, depraved, guilty, and lost in myself. The 
 evils of my heart, like a corrupt fountain, every mo- 
 ment send forth bitter and black waters, the streams 
 of which must be offensive to my God, and are de- 
 structive to my own jieace and comfort. For this I 
 mourn day by day; and, as my years advance, 1 find 
 it a cause of increasing lamentation. 1 thank my 
 God that 1 have no rest in it; but that I am enabled 
 fervently to pray that his grace may in me be suffi- 
 cient and triumphant. From Christ my Redeemer 
 1 look for pardon, peafte, strength, and all 1 need. 
 This day my heart's desire and prayer is, ' that I 
 may know him and the power of his resurrection : the 
 fellowship of his suflerings, and be made confornjable 
 to his death.' ^^'hcn I review my past life, my youth,
 
 58 SELF-DEDICATION, 
 
 my sorrows, my deliverances, and the greatness of 
 my mercies unto this day, with thousands of favours 
 received from his hand, 1 hope that I may be per- 
 mitted to say that 1 am the Lord's. Else, why should 
 I thus feelf Why choose the Lord, his truth and 
 ways, if he had not chosen me? O I would tear out 
 my heart and trample upon every noxious weed of 
 iniquity, and endeavour to perfect lioliness in the fear 
 of God. Time was, when 1 could cultivate these with 
 both hands, and take j)leasure in the fruits of sin. 
 The case, by the favour of God, is altered ! In this 
 I rest, as the fruit of my Lord's death and interces- 
 sion for me. 1 look to Him, that by his Spirit and 
 grace, he may perfect that which concerns me, 
 whether for the body or for the soul. Blessed Father, 
 Son, and Spirit, this day, I again, though most un- 
 worthy, give myself to thee. Let my person, time, 
 ministry, and all I have, be sanctified to thy glory, 
 the increase of thy visible Church, the comfort of my 
 family, and the benefit of my fellow creatures. Amen." 
 Commencing the year with God, and under the influ- 
 ence of the spirit of grace and supplication, it is 
 natural to expect, that the favour of heaven would 
 attend him. 
 
 " A good man's prayers 
 Will from the deepest dungeon, climb heaven's hoight, 
 And bring a blessing down." 
 
 Of the truth of this sentiment, we have a beautiful 
 illustration in the following extract from Ids diary. 
 
 *' Feb. J4. Jn moi iiing prayer, (jlod's |)romise by 
 Isaiah \vas strongly impressed upon my mind. ' / 
 will, wafer it every moment: 1 will keep it night and 
 daij.'' Of the certain fulfilment of this promise to me, 
 both as a source of comfort, and to promote my use- 
 fulness, and preservation from sin ; 1 was deeply con- 
 vinced. O that I may enjoy it by night and by day, 
 to the praise of my (iod and Siiviour ! It is good to
 
 VISIT TO A BACKSLIDER* 69 
 
 have such longing desires, though the blessing be not 
 immediately granted." 
 
 The year 1798 was the first, during which Mr. 
 (Stanford attempted to keep a systematic journal of 
 ])assing events, and from the notes of that journal, it 
 appears indeed to have been a year, replete with 
 incident. Much of the exercises of his mind, in duties 
 and under trials, is here recorded with a faithful pen, 
 and furnish ample evidence of the sincerity, and un- 
 atfected fervour of his piety* 
 
 As the trials of life, and the temptations peculiar to 
 Christians, had in no ordinary degree prepared the 
 heart of 3Ir. Stanford, to symi)athize with his afflicted 
 brethren : so too, his suavity, united as it was with a 
 profound and discriminating mind, constituted him a 
 most desirable counsellor to those who were labouring 
 under mental embarrassments in regard to their 
 spiritual state. It is known to have been no uncom- 
 mon circumstance, for ministers as well as private 
 members, of different religious denominations, to re- 
 sort to the study of this venerable man of God, to re- 
 ceive the benefit of his opinion and advice. This very 
 desirable qualification for the proper discharge of the 
 ministerial functions, brought iiim into frequent con- 
 tact with the penitent and mourning of every class. 
 
 " On the Liord's day," he says : " I visited a person 
 who had been caught in the Ibul snare of the devil; 
 his conversation, and his gratitude for subsequent 
 deliverance, were expressed with great sensibility, 
 and accompanied with many tears. May I always 
 remember that necessary admonition — ' i,et him tltut 
 tkinkclk he sfande/h, take heed lest he fall.'' " 
 
 The social disposition of JMr. Stanford rendered 
 him a very agreeabh; conqianion; particularly in the 
 earlier years of his life. The society of his Christian 
 friends afibrded him great delight. On one occasion 
 the conversation turned upon " the origin of sin, and 
 the fate of infants." And when the question was
 
 60 / FINAL STATE OF INFANTS* 
 
 propounded to him, he judiciously replied : " I always 
 feel best satisfied with plain, and revealed truth; I 
 wish constantly to possess the humble spirit of David, 
 when he thus appealed to his God : ' Lord, my heart 
 is not half gilt y, neiiher do I exercise myself in things too 
 high for mc.^ Is it not enough for me to know, and 
 feel that I have sinned, and to look to the Lord Jesus 
 to pardon and cleanse me? As to the final state of 
 infants, the blessed Jesus has said, ^ Of such is 'the 
 kingdom of licavcn,'' and I can safely leave them with 
 God, the Judge of all, who will do right." This reply 
 did honour both to his head and his heart ; and it 
 were devoutly to be wished that all, and particularly 
 Christians, would remember the language of Moses : 
 " Secret things belong unto the Lord our God: hut those 
 things which are revealed belong unto us, and to our 
 children for ever, that ice may do all the words of this 
 law." 
 
 When his opinion upon any point in theology was 
 required, it seemed always to aflbrd him peculiar 
 pleasure, to be able, by an appeal to the sacred 
 volume, to say ; " Thus it is written." — He felt in all 
 their force, the more than poetic lines : — 
 
 " Oh thou viist, awful, and iiiy.stciioiis power! 
 Whom Christians worship, yet not comprehend ' 
 
 Shed from tliy distant lieav'n where'er it sJiiiies, 
 One ray of guardian Hght, to clear my way : 
 And leach luo firet to find, then act thy w ill I'
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 REMARKABLE PROVIDENCES SUFFERINGS DURING THE PRE- 
 VALENCE OF YELLOW FEVER — DEATH OF MRS. STANFORD 
 
 MR. STANFORD RESUMES HIS PUBLIC DUTIES DECLINES 
 
 SEVERAL INVITATIONS TO REMOVE FROM NEW-YORK. 
 
 The death of his vahiable friend, Samuel Naylor, 
 Esq. was announced about the 9th of March, 1798. 
 To commemorate this event, Mr. Stanford composed 
 a sermon, which was subsequently printed and trans^ 
 niittcd to the surviving family, as a memorial of his 
 gratitude for the numerous evidences of friendship, 
 which in early life he had received from the deceased. 
 If— 
 
 " To the generous mind, 
 The heaviest debt, is that of gratitude, 
 When 'tis not in our power to repay it:"'— 
 
 Ah ! what then must be the anxiety of the humble 
 (Christian, suitably to express his obligations to the 
 di\ ine Author of every mercy ! And although the soul 
 ran here render no adequate tribute, yet the pious 
 man will delight to record the goodness of the Lord. 
 it was a favourite saying of the puritan fathers : " He 
 that will observe divine providences, shall never want 
 j)rovidences to observe;" and it may with much truth 
 be said, that as few men have been more accustomed 
 to sjieak of the dealings of the Lord with their souls, 
 so few have been more remarkably the objects of 
 heaven^ special care, than the subject of this memoir. 
 Like the eminently pious Mr. Brown, of Haddington, 
 ho might say : — " I have met with many trials, yet so 
 merciful hath the Lord been to his servant, that if 1 
 
 6
 
 62 UNEXPECTED RELIEI'. 
 
 were to live my clays over again, 1 would not desife 
 one circumstance in my lot changed, except, that I 
 wish I had less sin." Tpon Mr. Stanford's cotfin it 
 might with truth have been inscribed: — 
 
 ^' Here lies one of the cares of Providence, 
 Who early wanted both father and mother, 
 And yet never missed them." 
 
 On the I3tli of March he thus writes: — " I have 
 sometimes been disposed to call in question the verity 
 of narratives, in which Providence has been described 
 as affording relief, by special and supernatural means. 
 This arose, in part, from a disposition not to receive 
 matters of fancy for matters of fact ; but circum- 
 stances have recently occurred, calculated at least 
 to modify my former opinions upon this point. This 
 day, being under obligations to answer a pecuniary 
 demand, but entirely destitute of the means, 1 learned 
 a practical lesson, which changed my sentiments on 
 the subject. The claim was correct in point of justice 
 and honour; but unable to meet it, I resorted to my 
 God in prayer. In the course of the day, adeciuato 
 money was brought from an unexpected ([uarter, 
 which more than enabled me to pay the debt, and 
 produced in my mind not merely a conviction, that 
 all the steps of a (rood 7nan are ordered by the Lord, 
 but also a determination, for the future, always to 
 implore the aid of heaven, even in the most minute 
 concerns of life." 
 
 On another occasion, a similar circumstance oc- 
 curred in the life of Mr. Stanford, which affords 
 satisfactory evidence of tlu; providential care of God 
 towards his |)eo|de. ^^hen he had scarcely recovered 
 froni the withering influence of a malignant disease 
 that prevaih.d through the city, and which brought 
 hivi to the borders of the grave — an event of which 
 lie speaks in the language of the Christian — " I 
 did not murmur — I felt submissive — but 1 was all
 
 CAST DOWN, BUT NOT DESTROYi:!). 63 
 
 astonishment at the Imnrl of God upon mc!" Tiien, 
 liU(.' .lol), he Silt amid the ruins of hi.s former pros- 
 j)erity, to mourn over liis alllictions, and to ponder 
 the ways of God. Turning his eyes toward the 
 door of his deserted school-room, there all was silent 
 as the <j^rave. — He looked around upon his destitute 
 little children, the youngest of wlioni, to human 
 appearance, was then agonizing in the grasj) of 
 death. The n(Mglihourhood as yet continued in a 
 state of mournful abandonment, and he was left nearly 
 alone, to watch with the sick, and to perform every 
 necessary duty towards the afflicted members of his 
 domestic circle. Almost entirely deprived of those 
 kindly sympathies which usually assuage the sorrows 
 of the distressed in this enlightened country, he felt 
 the necessity of exerting every remaining energy, to 
 provide for the present wants of his helpless babes. 
 ]iut what was his dismay, when, on examination, he 
 found that his family stores were consumed, and to use 
 his own words, his '■'■ money iol ally exliausted.^' Never- 
 theless, Mr. Stanford did not despair; his soul rested 
 n|)on the promise of that God who has said — " The 
 yoiin^ lioii^do lack and si/JJ'er /inii'^-er, but they that seek 
 the Lord shall not want any good tkini!;.'''' But what was 
 to be done in so painful an emergency 'i Should he 
 seek, and apply to some member of his congregation, 
 who might have ventured to return lo the city? 
 Should he call upon some respectable citizen and so- 
 licit the loan of a small sum ? His maxim had always 
 been, '■'Oicc no man any thing" and though at this 
 time reduced to extremity, he appears to have main- 
 tained the j)rinciple inviolate. Thus circumstanced, 
 Jie had osily one resource, and that was in the mercy 
 iind faitht'ulness of God ; to God therefore did he re- 
 j)air for direction and support, nor did he ask in vain. 
 " In the afternoon," he remarks, " I took a walk as 
 far as Wall-street, and called to see my friend I\Irs. 
 y****. She incpiired, with much affectionate solici-
 
 64 VISIT TO STAMFORD. 
 
 ■ tude, about my state, and respecting the wants of the 
 children, &c. ; and on my going out she put seven 
 dollars into my hand, as for my children. This I 
 considered as from the Lord, and demands my humble 
 gratitude and praise." Shortly afterwards he re- 
 ceived a letter from Mr. H***, containing another 
 supply, and expressing much Christian sympathy ; 
 upon which he stiys — " May every instance of human 
 friendship lead me to the Lord in grateful adora- 
 tion." 
 
 In the month of March his healtli appeared to he 
 fast declining. His animal spirits, though naturally 
 lively, began to fail ; and after Dr. C******* had pre- 
 scribed a change of air, or a permanent residence in 
 the country as indispensable to his recovery, he for a 
 moment evinced dejection of mind, at the thought of 
 being compelled to abandon his home; but from this 
 state of feeling he w-is soon relieved by the reilection, 
 that the Israelites did not move, or halt, but by the 
 direction of the cloud. This so entirely reconciled 
 his mind, that he could say with pleasure, " // is (he 
 Lord, let him do ichat seemcth him goud.^' 
 
 " He's good wlien lie gives, supremely good, 
 Nor less when he denies ; 
 E'en crosses from his sovereign hand, 
 Are mercies in disguise." 
 
 In the early part of April, ?.Ir. Stanford was en- 
 abled, pursuant to the advicci of his physician, to visit 
 Stamford, in Connecticut, where he was most aflec- 
 tionately received by his Christian friends. In the 
 Bajjtist church in that place, he preached two ser- 
 mons, without experiencing any i)articular incon- 
 venience ; but owing to great weakness, which |)ro- 
 duced a depression of his naturally buoyant mind, he 
 was unable either to impart, or to derive satisfaction 
 from conversation. In returning to ISew-York the 
 stage broke down, and compelled him, notwithsiand'
 
 DESPAIU, THE FRUIT OF SIN. 65 
 
 ing»- his great debility, to walk several miles ; yet, a 
 kind Providence enabled him to reach his iiabitatiori 
 in safety. This journey produced a strong desire to 
 enjoy the advantages of a situation in the country, 
 where he might, with less interrujjtion, pursue the 
 study of the sacred volume. Nevertheless, he seems 
 to have been entirely submissive to the will of heaven. 
 " Let mc live or die, when, ami ipherc the Lard ordains.'''' 
 By j)articular recpiest, he visited a j)erson at 
 Brooklyn, who had been, for some lime, trembling in 
 a state of almost total despair. The case was pecu- 
 liarly alarming. Every argument emj)loyed as a 
 means of instructing an(l consoling the unhappy back- 
 slider was rejected. This person pretended to 
 dreams and visions, (generally a suspicious circum- 
 stance ;) and it afterwards became sufficiently evident 
 that his fears arose from secret indulgence in sin. 
 One question an'ong others, which this person pro- 
 posed to Mr. Stanford was, " AVhcther God did not 
 leave many souls, in time, for the purpose of sealing 
 them up in eternal misery.^" To this he replied, 
 " 'Secret fhinf!::s belong- to the Lord our God,'' \vho has 
 a right to do what he will with his own ; yet it is re- 
 vealed for our admonition, that there are some, whom, 
 for their wickedness, ' God fi^ave over to a reprobate 
 mind.^ " (Romans i. 28.) This quotation from the 
 scriptures, was followed Avith tender admonitions,, 
 and a suitable selection of promises made to dis- 
 tressed and jjenitent minds, but all in vain. Despair 
 seemed now to have cast her shades of night around 
 him, as the impenetrable clouds which hover over — 
 
 " That Syrian lake, upon whose surface. 
 Morn and sununer shed their smiles in vain, 
 For all beneath is dead." 
 
 Upon this aftecting case, Mr. Stanford makes the fol- 
 lowing pious reflections: — "Lord, what is man when, 
 left to himself! How much do 1 deserve to be givem 
 
 6*
 
 66 WARWICK ASSOCIATION. 
 
 up to this hell, in conscience, for my many sins of 
 omission and commission. What a mercy it is to 
 enjoy a hope in Christ, and the drawings of the Holy 
 Spirit! Let me experience them now, sensibly and 
 abundantly, that I may humbly walk before God in 
 the light of the living." 
 
 In the month of May, Mv. Stanford visited War- 
 wick, for the purpose of attending an Association of 
 Ministers, at whose particular request he preached the 
 annual sermon, to a large and attentive congregation. 
 The text was — "i?e of good courage, and let us jjlay Uic 
 men for our people, and for the cities of our God : and 
 ihc Lord do that ichich secmefh him s-ood.'''' 2 Sam. x. VZ. 
 
 O 
 
 The Circular Letter, which, at a former meeting, he 
 had been appointed to j)reparo, was referred to a 
 committee, and being apj)roveQ by them, was ordered 
 to be printed. This interview proved not only refresh- 
 ing to his, at that time too much dejected mind, but 
 afforded him the opportunity of enlarging his acquaint- 
 ance wi»^h ministering brethren from distant parts of 
 the country, most of vihom continued his personal 
 and affectionate friencis until dealh. In reference to 
 this meeting he made tlie following remark in his 
 diary: — "If such seasons be so truly interesting, 
 how great, will be tlic hapj)ines^ of The General Asso- 
 ciation of all the redeemed, when they shall meet in 
 the resurrection of the just!" 
 
 From this jjcriod until August, nothing special oc- 
 curred. The customary parochial and pulpit duties 
 were regularly performed, and not without success. 
 Various iamily trials, as well as many mercies re- 
 ceived, stand recorded in his journal for June. Dur- 
 ing the month of July he appears to have suffered 
 consideruble mental depression, but the Lord sus- 
 tained iiini. 
 
 His next excursion was to Peekskill, where he de- 
 livered several discourses, m hich there is reason to 
 hope were not in vain in the Lord.
 
 YELLOW FEVKR. 67 
 
 On Saturday, the 5th of August, a serious affliction 
 comnienccd. Mv. (now Doctor) liarrovv, who resided 
 in the family of Mv. Stanford, (from the year 1790, 
 until 180G, and of whom he makes frequent mention 
 iu his diary, with ail tiio affectionate tenderness of a 
 father,) was early this morninij taken so extremely ill, 
 as to render the attendance of a physician necessary. 
 About three o'clock iu tlie afternoon, Mr. Stanford 
 also was seized with violent pains, first in the neck, 
 then in his ancles, and afterwards in his knees; as 
 though they were girt with a hot wire. This ren- 
 dered liin. incapable of walking, and he was compelled 
 at lenuth .o lie down on the bed. In the evening, 
 when the doctoi" came to ^isit Mr. Barrow, he found 
 Mr. Stanford in an alarming condition, and a vein 
 was accordingly opened, but only a very small quan- 
 tity of blood could be produced. The disease was 
 pronounced to be the yellow fever, wiiich but a few 
 days before had comjuonced the work of death in 
 this- city. The following day being the Sabbath, on 
 which the Ijord's supper was to have been adminis- 
 tered to the church, the people convened as usual, 
 and many of them came to visit their aillicted pastor. 
 During this trying dis]j(Mi.sation uf Providence, the 
 liord not only preserved his mind in a state of sere- 
 nity, but grante<i him a spirit of filial resignation to 
 (he will of his heavenly Father. It has been said by 
 the visitors, that he conversed on the subject of reli- 
 gion with more vivacity and solemnity th;<n they had 
 ever before witnessed. lie experienced no rapturous 
 emotions, but his soul was delightfully resigned to the 
 Lord, and in the sj)irit of the apostle Paul, he seems 
 at this time to have been able to excJaim: " For mc 
 lo live is C/irisf, ami io die is gain.^^ This was the 
 more remarkable, as his temporal concerns were at 
 that time by no means in a desirable state of arrange- 
 ment. The next day, his four children were removed 
 from the house in Fair-street, and i)laced under the
 
 6S DEATH OF MRS. STA^JFORD. 
 
 care of a friend, in a part of the city as yet unin- 
 fected. 
 
 His fever increased, and raged with such violence, 
 that he became perfectly deranged, and in this state 
 he continued until the next Saturday. This was in- 
 deed one of the days of darkness in the history of 3Ir. 
 Stanford ; but even here the hght of salvation beamed 
 upon him, and he realized the fulfilment of that i^ra- 
 cious promise — " At cveinng time it shall be ligltt.^' 
 On this memorable day, the hearse waited nearly two 
 hours in expectation of his death, and for the purpose 
 of conveying him to " the dark and silent vestibule of 
 departed souls." Early the next morning some of iiis 
 friends came to inquire at what time he died, when, 
 to their astonishment, they found that the J^ord iiad 
 " rcbuficd the fever,'''' and that there was a strong pro- 
 bal)ility of his recovery. On the next Friday, his 
 v>ife was taken ill of the same fever, but on the follow- 
 in"' Wedncsdav she was so far recovered as to obtain 
 ihe physician's consent to visit her mother. This 
 apparently favourable change was succeeded by a 
 relapse, which she survived onk four hours, and then 
 bowed in death. This additional and very jjainful 
 affliction, produced a serious effect uj)on his emaciated 
 frame; nevertheless, he was assisted with Christian 
 resignation to say — " The uill of the Lord he doncP^ 
 The body of Mrs. Stanford was interred in the south- 
 west side of Trinity Church yard; but from the many 
 burials which occurred at that time, it is to be lament- 
 ed that the j)articular sj)ot could never be identified. 
 
 Among the friends of Mr. Stanford who attended 
 the funeral of his wife. Dr. Provoost caught the fever, 
 but hap})ily survived. Mr. John Cobby, Charles 
 Hazard, (a student of divinity,) Mrs. lloberts, and 
 her sister, contracted the same fatal disease, by sitting 
 lip with him, and died in a few days. The contagion 
 prevailed so greatly in the immediate neighbourhood, 
 that it was entirely deserted by the citizens, and his
 
 EFFECTS OF YELLOW FEVEIl IN NEW-YORK. 60 
 
 friends thought it necessary to move him to Liimber- 
 stroet, on the other side ol'the city, vviiere he continued 
 more than a montii, in great weakne^^s, chiefly owing 
 to a painful cutaneous eruption which followed the 
 fever. By tiiis tinio it was computed that upwards 
 of two thousand persons had become victims to the 
 pestilence. The young and the aged, the pious and 
 the profane, withered and sunk into the grave beforo 
 the march of the destroyer. Among the fallen were 
 many of the particular friends of i\Ir. Stanford. 
 
 On the 8th of October, he was permitted to return 
 with his fasniiy to liis own house. V(;ry few of tlie 
 neighbours had ventured to revisit their deserted 
 habitations, and every thing upon which the eye could 
 rest exhibited a spectacle of desolation. Mr. Stan- 
 ford found his house in extreme disorder — theft had 
 been committed on his property — the loss of his ami- 
 able v.ife — and a thousand painful reflections rushing 
 upon liis mind, produced a temporary depression of 
 feeling. But under all these complicated trials ho 
 was enabled to speak of the sparing mercy of his God, 
 and to make a ir;3sh dedication of his soul and body 
 to the service of heaven, and the interest of his 
 motherless children. 
 
 To preserve the history of events in divine Provi- 
 dence, with which the name of Stanford is so remark- 
 ably identified, we subjoin the following summary: — 
 
 The first appearance of yellow fever in the city of 
 New- York was in 17.01. It has subsequentiv visited 
 us in 1795, J 798, 1799, 1800, 1803, 180.5, 1819, and 
 ld2"2. It is periiaps impossible, definitely to fix the 
 number of its victims, but from the best sources of 
 information to which we have access, it is probable 
 that about nine thousand persons have died of yellow 
 fever in New-York.* 
 
 * As to the cause auJ prevalence of this terrible disea.'^e, viirious 
 opinions exist. It is not our province to examine the relative merits ol"
 
 TO COMMEMORATIVE SERMON. 
 
 By this severe and protracted sickness, the disper- 
 sion of the academy, and great extra expenses, IMr. 
 Stanford was brought under much temporal embar- 
 rassment. But the Lord, in his kind providence, by 
 jiersons known and unknown, afforded him supplies,, 
 not unfrequently, in a manner almost n)iraculous. 
 
 In the life of this good man, how frequently are our 
 sympathies excited in the contemplation of his numer- 
 ous afHictions, but not more frequently than our ad- 
 miration of the mercy and faithfulness of his God, in 
 " delivering Iiim out of f Item all.'''' And should not we 
 learn from these instances of Christian experience, 
 that — 
 
 " Thougli all seein lost, 'tis impious to despair; 
 The tracks of Providence, like rivers, wind ;" 
 
 And in their windings prove, that "-4// things work 
 together for good, to them that love God." 
 
 On the 28th of October, Mr. Stanford re-opened 
 his place of worship, with a discourse, commemora- 
 tive of his rccoverv from the pestilence, founded on 
 Psalm XXX. 2, 3, 4. 
 
 the arguments employed upon this suhject by medical men, bnt the 
 follovviiig remarks, from the pen of Valentine Seaman, M.D., arein such 
 perfect accordance with our own views, that we cannot deny ourselves 
 the pleaniire of quoting them. 
 
 '• The much agitated ' question of importation or non-importation, as 
 it res|)<'cts the health of a place,' to use the words of Dr. Smith, ' sinks 
 into its merited insignificance ; the ellicient cause, the causa sinrrjuu won. 
 being clearly discerned as depending on local circunistances.' 
 
 " To d(!piMid, therefore, for our safely from yellow fever, upon the 
 rigours of our port liws. or the vigilance of our iiealtli otlicers, while 
 these pools ol' putrefaction are suH'ered to remain, is like building a cily 
 with cedar and pine, and confiding in the irntcli to secure us from tire. 
 Ijut if liiese jiregnant sourcws of destruction are dried uj), we may, like 
 those who case the woodiMi work of their brick-built, tile-roofed lionses 
 with iron, rest at ease in our habilations, ecpially secure against the 
 deci'ilfiil ( a[)tain's intrusions, or tiie incnutions sailor's blundering into 
 iiiir ports, in liie one case, as, in tiie oilier, we should be, of the vile 
 incendiary's matcji or tiiO careless neighhour's spark. As llie latter 
 would die in ilu-ir own combustion, so the former would end iu tiie fa;e 
 uf the S'ingle sulleror.'
 
 t>AY OF THANKSGIVING. Tl 
 
 '• O Lord in\j God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast 
 healed mc. O Lord, thou hast brought up i/iij soul from 
 the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that 1 should not go 
 down to the pit. Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of 
 
 his:' 
 
 On tlic first of November, he resumed his acatle- 
 luial toils, with only five schohirs, owing to tlie un- 
 wilUngncss of parents to send their sons to a part of 
 the city where the pestilence had so lately raged with 
 resistless fury. 
 
 A short time after the return of his congregation, 
 Mr. Stanford preached a sermon on the death of the 
 Venerable John Cobby, and another on tlie death of 
 Charles Hazard, (one of his students in divinity,) both 
 f)f whom died of the fever. The latter discourse was 
 printed, and the profits ap|)lied to the erection of a 
 monumental tomb-stone. On this day, for the first 
 time since the commencement of the pestilence, Mr. 
 Stanford administered the Lord's supper to as many 
 of the members of his churcli as could be collected. 
 It was a season of deep solemnity ; and all present 
 appeared to be seriously impressed with a sense of the 
 mercy of God in their preservation from death. The 
 rest of the tnonth was filled up with various private 
 and public duties, and the goodness of God continued 
 to be disi)layed in the bostowmcnt of many temporal 
 and spiritual mercies. His healtli however contimied 
 to be very feeble, and it was otdy through the s|)ecial 
 grace of the Lord, that he was enabled to persevere 
 in the discharge of his olHcial labours. 
 
 The year 1799 was commenced by a solemn review 
 of the alHicting scenes of the past, and nn unreserved 
 dedication of liimself to the service of his Lord ami 
 Saviour. 
 
 The 5th of January was set apart by the citizens, 
 and churches, as a day for humiliation, and of special 
 thanksgiving for restoration from the late jjublic 
 calamity. As Mr. Stanford was among^t those whtj*
 
 72 THE EUCHARIST. 
 
 had suffered most severely, and had at the same lime 
 experienced the deUvering; mercy of the Lord, when 
 all hope of recovery had fled, it would seem gratuit- 
 ous to say, that he was among the foremost to appear 
 at the altar, with his thank-offering. In reference to 
 the public service in his own church, Mr. Stanford 
 remarks — " I believe every heart in the congregation 
 I'elt the sweet emotions of gratitude, and every tongue 
 praised tiie delivering hand of God. O that I could 
 improve the future golden moments, and my whole 
 life be loaded with fruits of righteousness !" 
 
 •• O ! may I ne'er forget 
 
 The mercies of my God, 
 Nor ever want a tongne to spread, 
 lii.i loudest praise abroad." 
 
 The congregation having considerably increased, 
 and most of the mem})ers of the chitrch returned to 
 the city, they asseniblcd again on the 3(1 of March, to 
 commemorate, in the eucharist, the death of Christ. 
 " On this occasion," says Mr. Stanford, " the Lord 
 was sensibly ])resent. In preaching the gospel, the 
 Lord to me was truly gracious, and made it a season 
 of joy to the assembly. While administering the 
 bread, as the expressive emblem of my Saviour's 
 crucified body, I was endulged with clearer faith, and 
 more devout aflcctions, than I had experienced for 
 many years. To the communicants also, the liord 
 was ' 7nade known in Ihc hrcakivr of bread,^ and they 
 exi)crienced the sweets of Christian union, as fellow 
 heirs of the grace of life. May this be to us a fore- 
 taste of the Saviour's speedy visitation!" 
 
 About the latter end of this month, Mr. Stanford ex- 
 perienced great symptomatic debility, almost amount- 
 ing to a second attack of the disease ; and several 
 other j)crsons, who had been restored from the same 
 calamity, were thrown into a similar condition. The; 
 powers of the mind, like a bow unduly strained, ap
 
 ORDINATION OF THE RKV. DANIEL HALL. 73 
 
 pcared to be breakii\^, and this was accompanied with 
 an almost entire prostration of the physical energies, 
 but in no case did this relapse prove fatal. It was, 
 however, the ojiinion of Mr. Stanford's physicians, 
 that a pulmonary consumption woidd be the result. 
 I'pon this point he remarks : — " I was assisted to 
 look unto the Lord, remember his former loving- 
 kindness, and earnestly to pray, that Christ might be 
 magnified in my body, whether by life or by death." 
 
 Hoping that a journey might contribute to his 
 restoration, he left home on the 22d of May, for Peek- 
 skill and Clinton-Town. At Peekskill he assisted 
 in the ordination of the Rev. Daniel Hall, as pastor 
 of the church in that place. The sermon which he 
 preached on that occasion, was from 2 Corinthians 
 ii. 16 — " To the one we are the savour of dcaili vnto 
 death; and to the other, the savour of life unto life. 
 And n-ho is svfjieient for these things 9^^ This, to Mr. 
 Stanford, must have been an event of great interest, 
 as Mr. Hall had been one of his divinity students. 
 
 On the 28th he arrived at Clinton-Town, and met 
 a number of ministers at their annual Association, by 
 whose request he preached a sermon, from 1 Kings 
 XX. 11 — " And the hing of Israel answered and said. 
 Tell hi?n, Let not him thai girdeth on his harness boast 
 himself as he that pnfteth it ojf.^^ " Here," says the 
 good man, "I sensibly felt my infirmities of body and 
 mind. I was very kindly entertained by a family who 
 were of the people called Friends, but had to lament 
 that owing to indisposition, I was entirely disqualified 
 from ministering to their edification in private conver- 
 sation. jXevertheless, the Lord was kind in granting 
 me aid in the public services, and bearing me through 
 the long and tedious journey." 
 
 In. July he became so much debilitated, that his 
 physicians advised him to remove into the country. 
 " About this time," he says, " I received several in- 
 vitations to take char<re of public seminaries ; one in 
 
 7
 
 74 THE MOVING OF THE CLOUD, 
 
 this State, and another in Pennsylvania.*' This was 
 made a subject of much serious reflection and prayer. 
 But obstacles of various kinds occurred, and at no 
 time could lie perceive that it was his duty to 
 remove. 
 
 At this time a minister in New-Jersey, who was 
 under peculiar embarrassment in regard to the path 
 of duty, wrote to him for advice, on his contemplated 
 removal to a distant state. To this Mr. Stanford 
 replied, by referring him to the case of the Israelites 
 in their journey through the wilderness. If they 
 moved before the cloud ascended, they had no assurance 
 of protection from their enemies ; and if they abode in 
 the camp when the cloud moved,- they were equally 
 in danger of being consumed. Just so is the provi- 
 dence of God towards his peojjle, upon which, there- 
 fore, it well becomes them to fix the eye of faith, and 
 with humble prayer for direction, always to wait 
 for the moving of the cloud. Upon this point fatal 
 errors are daily committed, as well in the moral as 
 in the natural world. Some, with a precipitous self- 
 confidence, leap forward unbidden by the voice of 
 Providence, and become the victims of their own 
 folly, while others procrastinate beyond the time for 
 action, and — 
 
 " All the voyage of their life 
 Is bound ill shallows and in iiiiseiies." 
 
 It is said concerning the Roman Fabius, that he al- 
 ways delayed until the proper moment came, but he 
 never delayed until it was past. The advice which 
 Mr. Stanford gave to his friend was not without bene- 
 fit to himself, and j)roduced a con\iclion in his own 
 breast, that whereas God had manifestly ^^pilchcd hia 
 lenV^ in the city of New- York, duty re(juired him, not- 
 witlistanding his ill health and other embarrassments, 
 to remain, ami be obetlicnt to the will of heaven, what- 
 ever might be the issue. This humble and sulinitsive
 
 UE-APrF,ARAi\CE OF YELLOW FEVER. 75 
 
 disposition was not perniitted to pass unregarded. 
 Was ho willing licre to abide, and labour to promote 
 the kingdom of God? Here, God determined amply 
 to reward his faithful servant, by crowning his labours 
 with success, and his life with the blessings of many 
 years. 
 
 In the month of August, a house in Greenwich- 
 street was hired, into which he removed with his 
 family, and where it was hoped a more free circulation 
 of air would contribute to the recovery of his health; 
 but scarcely had a single month elapsed, before the 
 yellow fever again made its appearance in the city, 
 and once more, the inhabitants were scattered like 
 sheep ui)on the mountains. As by this event, his 
 place of worship was almost entirely deserted, and 
 receiving an invitation from Mount-Pleasant to bring 
 his family to that place for a few weeks, he accord- 
 ingly reuioved from New- York on the 18th of August, 
 and was affectionately received beneath the hospita- 
 ble roof of Elijah Hunter, Esq. where he remained 
 until the 21st of October, and enjoyed not only 
 a favourable opportunity for study, but an ampl<) 
 field of usefulness. He preached in the church at 
 3Iount-Ph asant on the Sabbath morning and evening, 
 but lectured in the neighbouring places during the 
 week; these services it is believed were not in vain 
 in the Lord. 
 
 On his return to New- York, he was importuned k) 
 commence a series of Wednesday evening lectures, in 
 a room in Greenwich-street, which was hired for that 
 j)urpose. Concerning these lectures, the writer has 
 heard intelligent Christians speak in no ordinary 
 terms of commendation. To the souls of many now 
 in heaven, they seem to have been refreshing, as was 
 the stream that gushed from Iloreb's rock, to the 
 suffering Israelites at Rcphidim. 
 
 On the first Lord's day in Decend)er, he preached 
 twice, and administered the Lord s supper to the
 
 76 FEARS DISSIPATED. 
 
 church, with more than usual gratitude and spiritual 
 engagedness. In the evening he received a letter 
 from Mount-Pleasant, containing the cheering intelli- 
 gence, that in his late visit to that place, the Lord 
 had been pleased to accompany his efforts in preach- 
 ing the gospel, with the power of the Holy Spirit, 
 and that several persons had been converted to God 
 through the instrumentality of his labours, and many 
 others were inquiring what tiiey must do to be saved. 
 " This," he remarks, " was to me in my weakness 
 and various trials, as a refreshing cordial. It served 
 also to clothe me v»ith humility, and to excite my 
 gratitude and praise to the God of all grace." 
 
 On the 24th of December, this being the season of 
 vacation, he took a journey by land to Slouat-Pieu- 
 sant, in company with a friend. Several disasters 
 occurred on the road, so that they did not arrive till 
 eleven at night; nevertheless, he was enabled next 
 day to preach with some satisfaction to himself and 
 the congregation. During this visit, a circumstance 
 occurred which verifies the common adage : — That 
 anticipated afflictions produce a greater effect on the 
 mind than those which are actually experienced. 
 Very early in the morning, a person came into his 
 chamber and informed him, that " one of his family 
 had fallen into a j)ainful calamity." The suddenness 
 of the information, the abrupt manner in which it was 
 communicated, and the debilitated condition of his 
 person, combined to make an overwhelming impres- 
 sion upon his mind. Nevertheless, the liOrd sustained 
 him; and when he arrived at home, he found to his 
 great surprise and joy, that the report which had so 
 much alarmed and distressed him, was without foun- 
 dation. Thus vanished in a moment this imaginary 
 cloud, the threatening aspect of which had inspired so 
 much unnecessary terror. 
 
 An examination of his journal for the year 1800, 
 has furnished but few items of special public interest,
 
 AMIAP.LE TRAIT OF CHARACTER. 77 
 
 although, as a Christian and a minister, the Lord ap- 
 pears to have favoured him, in the discliargc of his 
 various duties, with Hvely exercises of faith, love, and 
 gratitude. In the early part of this year, the church 
 at Mount-Pleasant gave him another invitation to 
 settle in that place as their pastor. As one means of 
 ascertaining the will of Providence, he referred the 
 subject to the judgment of his congregation. The 
 result was, that they exjiressed a unanimous wish that 
 their pastor should remain with them ; of course his 
 resolution to continue in the city was more than ever 
 confirmed. About two months after this he received 
 another very urgent invitation to remove to a church 
 in ]\ew-Jerscy, which he also thought it his duty to 
 decline. 
 
 In the month of October he took a journey to Phila- 
 delphia, for the purpose of meeting a number of minis- 
 ters and representatives of churches. By particular 
 request, he preached the second sermon to the assem- 
 bly, on " The duty of praying fur ilie ministers of the 
 gospel.'''' The business of tl.-is meeting appears to have 
 been conducted with great harmony, a circumstance 
 which in no inconsiderable degree contributed to the 
 happiness experienced by Mr. Stanford, for he was 
 pre-eminently a friend of peace, and a promoter of 
 brotherly love. It was an amiable trait in the char- 
 acter of this good man, that, however calumniated 
 or injured by others, he always did honour to himself, 
 and to the religion which he professed, by exemplify- 
 ing the apostolic maxim, *' Speak evil of no man^ 
 Like the excellent John Brown, of Haddington, 
 when reviled and persecuted, he seemed to consider 
 himself so much the more bound by the principles of 
 Christian love, to promote the temporal and spiritual 
 welfare of his enemies, and to pray for their " redemp- 
 tion through the blood of Christ,''^ that they might ob- 
 tain " the forgiveness of sin/f, according to the riches of 
 his graced In the same spirit, John Banyan used to 
 
 7*
 
 78 URIM AND THUMMIM. 
 
 say concerning his enemies — "Let them call me what 
 they please, may the Lord call them the holy ones, 
 the redeemed of the Lord, sought out and not for- 
 saken." 
 
 During this year Mr. Stanford published another 
 volume of " The Christiaii's Pocket Library f and on 
 the 25th of December he went to Mount-Pleasant, 
 by special request, for the purj)ose of preaching a 
 sermon to a Masonic Lodge. This discourse, en- 
 titled *' The Uriji and Thummim," was afterwards 
 printed at the expense of the Lodge.
 
 ^. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CONVERSIONS LOSS BY FIRE CONFIDENCE IN DIVINE PRO- 
 VIDENCE JOURNEY TO NEW-JERSEY AND PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 AN AWFUL SCENE YELLOW FEVER. 
 
 On the 12tli of March, 1801, at the particuhir 
 request of many pious persons of tlifterent rehgious 
 denominations, Mr. Stanford commenced a course of 
 Tliursday evening lectures, in a neighbourhood where 
 the gospel was seldom if ever preaclied. This service 
 was well attended; and is supposed to have proved a 
 blessing to many. About the same time he received 
 an invitation to settle at Warwick, and take charge 
 of the church in that town ; but being fully persuaded 
 that it was the will of God that he should continue 
 in this city, the application was dismissed, with suit- 
 able acknowledgments. In the month of May he 
 returned with his family to his own house in Fair- 
 street, that part of the city being tlnui considered in 
 a healthy state. " This," he remarks, " was accom- 
 j)anied with devotional exercises of heart, that the 
 Lord would be pleased to dwell in iny habitation, 
 which he had given me, and in which I had experi- 
 enced so many mercies, in tlie midst of so many 
 severe afflictions." Thus to dedicate our habitation* 
 unto the Lord, by constituting tiiem places for stated 
 and special seasons of religious worship, is a Christian 
 duty and privilege. Does Jehovah, in the plenitude 
 of his mercy, prolong our lives, and preserve our 
 habitations from the encircling llames.'' O let them 
 become tem()les devoted to his praise! Let us say, 
 in the spirit of the devoted patriarch — *' As for me 
 and my house, ice icill serve the Lord.'^ Joshua xxiv. 
 15.
 
 80 YOU.XG CONVERTS. 
 
 In the latter part of this month he took a journey 
 to Bedford, (New- York,) as a delegate to the Baptist 
 Association, assembled in that place. At this Asso- 
 ciation he says, " Great harmony and Christian love 
 prevailed." O how sweet on earth to enjoy such 
 interviews with the people of God, as a fore-taste of 
 the fellowship of saints in heaven. After the close of 
 public business, he received an invitation to meet 
 between twenty and thirty 3'Oung persons, from tlje 
 age of twelve to twenty, who had recently experi- 
 enced religion, and seemed on the wing for heaven. 
 " ]\ever," he remarks, " did I behold a scene so 
 charming, and never did I experience more real 
 satisfaction in discharging the duties of my ministerial 
 office, tlian in commending them to that blessed 
 Shepherd who gathereth the lambs with his arm, and 
 carrieth them in his bosom." The deep interest 
 which Mr. Stanford manifested in the eternal welfare 
 of children and youth, is a trait in his character as a 
 man and a Christian minister, which not only procured 
 for him the praises of men while living, but will em- 
 balm his memor}- in the grateful hearts of thousands. 
 No inconsiderable part of his life was employed in 
 training youth for the scenes of earth, and the joys of 
 heaven. And it is quite remarkable, that although 
 the peculiar gravity and dignity of his appearance 
 was such as to preclude, rather than to invite juvenile 
 familiarity, yet no other man within our knowledge, of 
 the same age, was so uni^•ersal!y a favourite amongst 
 children as " Father Stanford." One little boy, (the 
 son of a clergyman,) was asked whom he liked best 
 as a preacher, " O," said he, " I like old Father 
 Stanford best, because he is a very good man, and 
 he speaks out, so that I can understand him." 
 
 In the month of August he again visited Mount- 
 Pleasant, but it seems that he left his family on this 
 occasion with an unusual degree of reluctance. Here, 
 and in the places adjacent, he preached several scr-
 
 PAINFUL TIDINGS. 81 
 
 mons, and appears to have enjoyed the presence of 
 the Lord in his blessed service. One day after dinner 
 he went with liis fViciul into tiic <^ar(lcn, there to 
 enjoy tlie pleasure of uninterrupted conversation, 
 wiien, turning- an angle wiiich presented a fidl view 
 of the Hudson, he observed a sloop advancing from 
 New- York, in which he expected liis two sons. He 
 immediately repaired to the dock, in order to welcome 
 them; but ah ! how little do we know what lies con- 
 cealed beneath the unveiled purj)oses of Divine Pro- 
 vidence. As soon as the vessel struck the dock he 
 observed many of the passengers on deck fixing their 
 eyes on him, and one of them stepped on shore to 
 inform him, that his sons were not on board. A 
 second, with much caution and tenderness, informed 
 iiini, that, eaily on Tuesday morning, his iiouse of 
 worship, and several ether buildings in the neigh- 
 bourhood, were consumed by iire ; and itnmediately 
 after, a third person handed him a letter, which con- 
 firmed the report. Tins unexpected and painful in- 
 formation produced a momentary regret, but did not 
 prevent Mr. Stanford from calmly resigning himself 
 to the sovereign pleasure of Him '■'■who worketh all 
 things after the counsel of his own tciliy It was a fine 
 reflection made by a pious lady, when news was 
 brought to her of two children drowned, whom she 
 loved very much : — " Ah ! I see that God will have my 
 whole heart; and he shall have it." And thus too, 
 the afflicted servant of Christ could say, even when 
 God, by the dark and mysterious dispensations of his 
 providence lias laid waste all his earthly prospects — 
 " Righteous art thou, O Lord, and upright are thy 
 judgments y 
 
 Next morning he commenced his journey to the 
 city, and arrived in the evening at the house of a 
 friend, thankful to the Lord that he once more could 
 embrace his children in safety. On the following day 
 he visited the smoking ruins of the house which, at
 
 82 THE PULPIT PRESERVED. 
 
 his own expense, and with great lahour, he had 
 erected tor the worship of God.* It was a rcmarkabk) 
 circumstance, that although every thing around it 
 was reduced to ashes, the pulpit remained ahnost 
 uninjured, and one of the firemen actually stood in 
 the pulpit directing the pipe of the engine, while 
 surrounded by the flames. " xit the moment," says 
 3Ir. Stanford, " the sight of the preserved pulpit 
 created a sort of impression on my mind, that my 
 public labours in the gospel ministry were not quite 
 at an end, and that yet 1 might '■be saved though as 
 hyfirer^ 
 
 Many years have elapsed since that fiery trial, and 
 surely the Lord granted him according to his faith. 
 Not only were his services in the gospel ministry 
 continued, but extended far beyond his most san- 
 guine exj)ectation. I'he universal public esteem 
 entertained towards Mr. Stanford was abundantly 
 evinced on this occasion. The multitude assembled 
 seemed to vie with each other in efforts to save his 
 propcrfy from the devouring element, and when that 
 was found impracticable, a very generous contribution 
 was made by the citizens to reinstate him, and as a 
 public testimony of their regard. These circumstan- 
 ces appear to have increased his determination, in the 
 name and in the fear of the Lord, to devote his life 
 to promote the moral benefit of the city of New- York, 
 as an expression of his gratitude for the favours he 
 
 * It is a fact in tiie history of Mr. Stanford, and wortliy of record, that 
 in tlio orection of" the place of \v<)rship, iu which lie commenced liin 
 ministry in New-Yoriv, lie e.\])endi!d all the funds \v!ii(:h he hronght with 
 him to America. Had he followed the advice of friends, and invested 
 liis money in the purchase of real estate, he could not fail to have 
 secm'cd for his family, a |)rincely fortune. But his /.eal for the worship of 
 God ahsorhed every consideration of personal emolument. The writer 
 has heard him say, that at one time, in the year 1797, lie was oifered a 
 property for the Slim of one hnndred pounds, whicli, in the opinion of 
 good jiulg(!s, is now worth sixty thousand dollars. Ac('f)rding to this 
 estimate, a dillerent appropriation of llu; amount expended in the catiKO 
 of Christ, would have secured millions for his private advantngc.
 
 HIS CONGREGATION DISl'EUSED. 63 
 
 rcccivctl from its inhabitants. In tlic mean tii!ic,tlic 
 destruction of liis pkicc of worship, led to tiic disper- 
 sion of the church and con^^regation, and most of the 
 members considered it to be their duty to unite with 
 t!ie other Bajitist churches in the city. TIius by the 
 will of God, his many years labour and anxiety in re- 
 lation to the church, vanished in an hour, and he was 
 called in Providence to approj)riatc the languai^'o of 
 David — " T/iou kasf sliowed mc hard iliijigp^: thou hast 
 made me to drink the trine of astonislimcnt."^ 
 
 As a pastor he had for many years laboured, and 
 watched, and prayed for the souls of his beloved peo- 
 ple, and perhaps he had fondly hoped that the evening 
 of his life would be passed in the bosom of an affec- 
 tionate church; but heaven had otherwise determined. 
 Other, though not less important objects were to be 
 accomplished by the servant of the Lord. He must 
 ^^ glorify God in the fircs,^^ and then spend the remain- 
 der of his days, as the herald of liberty through Christ, 
 to the captive in the dungeon; and as the messenger 
 of mercy to the poor. 
 
 " Our liopc is a delicate flower, 
 
 A\'liicli yields to each i'lui )ns blast; 
 And often we lose in an hour, 
 
 \\'lKit proniis'd for ages to last. 
 Wlieii the iieavens are calm and serene. 
 
 We fancy 't will always be day, 
 Till the whirlwind and storm intervene. 
 
 And sweep the hriijht prospect away." 
 
 This disj)ensation placeil him in a very trying situa- 
 tion. He was like a person beginning the world 
 anew. Nevertheless, he appears to have possessed 
 his soul in patience. His diary about this lime bears 
 the n)arks of ti heart oppressed indeed with the afflic- 
 tions of life, but sweetly resting on the promise of a 
 covenant (Jod. His letters, his preaching, and such 
 |)arts of his conversation as have been cherished in 
 : he memory of his friends, all con.-pired to prove ihtit'— ^-
 
 SI THOUGHTS ON THE THlRTY-TniRD PSALM. 
 
 '' Affliction is the good man's shining scene; 
 Prosperity conceids his brightest ray : 
 As night to stars, wo lustre gives to man."' 
 
 The remainder of this year was not attended with 
 any thing particularly requiring our attention. Mr. 
 Stanford occasionally preached in the different pulpits 
 in the city, and especially in Greenwich, where, until 
 that time, the sound of the gospel was seldom heard. 
 His academy continued to flourish, and the health of 
 his family was mercifully preserved. The following 
 sim{)le and beautiful thoughts on Psalm xxiii. 1. arc 
 ibund in his diary for the last day of this year : — " The 
 Lord is mi/ Shcplicrd, I shall 7wi want. ^ How great 
 is the provision v/hich the Shepherd of Israel hath 
 provided for his flock ! They can never ii'a?it the 
 supplies of his providence, so far at least as maycon^ 
 sist with their need. They can never want a suffici- 
 ency of his pardoning, comforting, and supporting 
 grace, so long as their Shepherd is Almighty. This 
 I do most confidently believe, and do therefore fer- 
 vently pray, that I may never icant faith to trust iny 
 Shepherd's care, under the darkest providences, nor 
 u-ant a heart to love and serve him to the end of niv 
 days." . 
 
 As a traveller wlio has passed through a dreary 
 wilderness, wiien he arrives at the summit of a hill, 
 looks back to contem]ilate the difficulties and dangers 
 of the way — to return thanks for deliverance, and to 
 dedicate liimself to the service of his almighty Pro- 
 tector; so did Mr. Stanford commence the year 1802, 
 by reviewing tlic events of the past, and again com- 
 mitting bis body and soul, his family and his ministry, 
 lu tlie merciful direction of heaven. 
 
 " Why sliouid I donht liis love at hist, 
 With anxious llioiigiits perplpx'd T 
 \A'lio sav'd inc in the troubles past; 
 ^Viil pave nic in the next.
 
 LETTER TO DR. E. 85 
 
 Will save, 'till at my hitcst hour, 
 
 With more than conquest blost, 
 I soar beyond temptation's power, 
 
 To my Redeemer's breast" 
 
 The following letter to Dr. B******, on the death 
 of his eldest son, is expressive of his pious sympathy 
 for the afflictedk 
 
 ''Au^ist 10, 1802. 
 
 *' MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 " You are too advanced in life not to have experi- 
 enced the truth of the remark, that ' Man is horn to 
 trouble, as the sparks Jl^ upward.'' Not, that an infinitely 
 wise and good Being can delight in planting thorns 
 in the paths of his creatures ; no, it is our transgres- 
 sions that have produced the multiplicity of evils which 
 attend us. 
 
 *' Under all the calamities of life it well becomes 
 us to feel for others wo, and aid their trembling steps 
 along the rugged road. Can 1 then, my dear Sir, 
 forbear to offer my condolence under your great 
 domestic sorrow? I write not to open the wound 
 wider, or make it bleed more profusely, by enumerating 
 the attendant circumstances of your affliction, but to 
 repeat the salutary sentiment of a well known pen — 
 ' For us they sicken, and for us they die.' Events 
 like this arc well calculated to teach us, that we can- 
 not grasp the full blown rose without feeling its pierc- 
 ing thorn ; and that our very 'comforts may become 
 killing.' Soon, we also must retire to the shades of 
 death ; therefore to enjoy the smiles of Immanuel, 
 can alone constitute our true felicity. But why need 
 1 repeat to you lessons which your age and Christian 
 experience must have taught you, long ere this. My 
 earnest prayer to God for you is, that the loss of the 
 creature may be amply compensated by the enjoyment 
 of the Creator, and that your future days may, with 
 greater ardour, be employed in the service of the 
 
 8
 
 86 REV. Dll. LIVIi\G.-TON, 
 
 Lord. May your Imppincss increase as you apro.vi- 
 mate the bliss of iniiuortality. 
 
 " Your's sincerely, 
 
 " JOHN STANFORD- 
 
 The following remarks, evince the feelings of his 
 heart with respect to evangelical Christians, and 
 ministers of other denominations. " The exercises 
 of my occasional ministry have been most frequently 
 in the Independent church in Warren-street, and 
 which will, 1 hope, not be in vain in the Lord. When 
 not engaged in j)reaching on the Lord's day morning, 
 I generally attend the ministry of my friend, Dr. 
 Livingston, of the Dutch Church, whose word it has 
 pleased God frequently to accompany with power to 
 my heart. 
 
 '* April 28. This morning, under a sermon by the 
 Doctor, on the parable of the sower, I was favoured 
 with such views of the glory of God, as I never had 
 before, nor have I since experienced. Well, Peter, 
 James, and John, were but once on the mount with 
 their Saviour, and I am thankful, if but once in my 
 life, the Lord is pleased to grant a 2)ccnliar discovery 
 of himself, to me who am the least deserving of the 
 children of men." 
 
 It is said of the immortal Luther, that •' he waa 
 innocently witty," and the memoir of Mr. Stanford 
 would be very incomplete, if we should omit to record, 
 at least some of those laconisrns in which his collo- 
 quial and epistolary style so much abounded. To 
 enable the reader to form an accurate opinion with 
 respect to this peculiar feature of his mind, and also 
 for the purpose of narrating the incidents which ho 
 sometimes describes with great felicity, we shall oc- 
 easionally introduce letters, written to some of hii 
 most intimate friends. 
 
 From the Rev. Mr. Stanford to Captain W*****.
 
 LETTER TO CAPTAIN W. 87 
 
 ''January IG, 1802. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, 
 
 " Accept my sincere thanks for yonr acceptable 
 present of an excellent cheese. This appears to 
 have been a valuable domestic article many ages 
 since. Little David was sent by Jesse, his father, to 
 carry ten cheeses for the use of his brethren, and tJie 
 captain of their company. 1 Samuel xvii. 18. When 
 David, the king, was in distress in the wilderness, 
 Barzillai sent a cheese for David; and I doubt not, 
 it was gratefully received, and acceptable to him in 
 his time of need, as was yours to me. Your kind 
 present had also a tendency to remind me of my past 
 afflictions from the hand of the Lord. — ' Tliou hast 
 curdled me like cliccse,'' said Job, (x. 10.) And so in- 
 deed, have I been ! Here we may remark, that if 
 there had been no curd, there would have been no 
 cheese, and it is just so in regard to the souls of men. 
 No cross, no crown ; no furnace, no pure gold. ' If 
 we are without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, 
 tJten are we bastards and not sojis.^ I should as soon 
 expect a cheese without curd, as to find a Christian 
 without affliction. How careful is the farmer in 
 curdling the milk ? Upon great care in this part of 
 the process, materially depends, the flavour of the 
 cheese. This reminds me of the wisdom of God, 
 whose hand has conducted all my troubles, and 
 enabled me to sing of mercy and loving-kindness, as 
 well as of judgment. I fear I shall have tired you 
 with my remarks, and therefore beg you will accept 
 the grateful thanks of, 
 
 " Your's sincerely, 
 
 " JOHN STANFORD." 
 
 On a particular occasion, Mr. Stanford preached a 
 sermon from the words — " I^et my beloved come info 
 his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.^^ After he had, 
 in a very interesting manner, described a beautiful
 
 88 THE CORNER-STONE. 
 
 garden, and spoken of the variety and fragrance of 
 its shrubs, flowers, trees, and fruit, and tlicn applied 
 the subject to the state of the Christian Cliurch ; as 
 he descended from the pulj)it, one of the deacons said 
 to him — "Well, Brother Stanford, you have laid out 
 the garden in due form, and you have described the 
 variety and excellencies of its productions, but where 
 is your fence ?" With his usual promj)tncss he re- 
 plied — " O, I left that for you deacons to put up; and 
 see that you keep it in good order." 
 
 March 15. This was a day of peculiar trial to his 
 faith. The workmen were, during the morning, em- 
 ployed in removing part of the foundation on which 
 had rested his former place of worshij), and when they 
 came to the corner-stone, which, with prayer to the 
 God of Israel, he had once deposited, the tear of 
 submission trembled in his eye, as he thought upon 
 the vicissitudes of human life; but, so far was he 
 from repining, that he was heard to say, as he cheer- 
 fully wiped away the falling drop — " Father, not my 
 icill, hut thine he doney 
 
 In the month of ,Iune he met the Baptist Associa- 
 tion, convened at Mount-Pleasant, and closed the 
 session with a discourse from Judges viii:4 — " Fainty 
 yet pursuing.''^ 
 
 On the iOth of July he visited Warwick, to assist 
 in the ordination of Mr. Thomas Stevens. The 
 congregation assembled on the occasion was large ; 
 and unusual solemnity is said to have attended the 
 service. The sermon, which was from Colossians i. 
 7 — '^ A faiihfid minister of Christ,'' was delivered by 
 Mr. Stanford, and subsc(piently i)rinte(l. 
 
 In August he took a Journey through the states of 
 New-Jersey and Pennsylvania, chiefly for the benefit 
 of his health. When the stage stopped at Plainfield, 
 the driver informed the company that, a short distance 
 further on the road, an intoxicated man had, on the 
 preceding night, murdered his two sons, his wife, and
 
 CONSEQUEN'CE OF INTEMPERANCE. 89 
 
 himself. As tlie stage had to pass hy the door, the 
 passengers itisiste<l on stopping at the house, and re- 
 (jiiested Mr. Stanford to accompany them. It was one 
 of those " neat httle cottages" which now and then 
 attracts the admiring gaze of the traveller, and seemed, 
 from the silence that prevailed, to he an ahode of 
 blessedness and of peace. But, alas! it was the si- 
 lence of death that reigned within its blood stained 
 walls. On entering the front room upon the lower 
 floor, they found a table plentifully spread on the 
 previous evening for the family repast. ITcre was 
 every thing to secure contentment and domestic 
 comfort; but the demon of intemperance had entered 
 the enclosure. As they ascended to the room imme- 
 diately above, they beheld one of those awful spec- 
 tacles, from which, with instinctive horror, the heart 
 unsteeled by crime, involuntarily recoils. In the 
 cradle lay a lovely little boy, about eight years old, 
 murdered in a shocking manner; and on the floor at 
 a short distance from him, and covered with wounds 
 and blood, lay his brother, about ten years of age. 
 The hapless mother of these victims of a brutal 
 father's rage, was found in the back parlour, to 
 which it is probable she had fled for safety, but was 
 there stabbed to the heart, by the hand of him who 
 had vowed at the altar to love and protect her. Near 
 the gory bosom of the martyred woman w as seen the 
 ghastly corpse of the sanguinary monster. After 
 perpetrating the diabolical crime of murdering his 
 unoff*ending family, it is supposed that he loaded his 
 rifle, and receiving the muzzle into his mouth, de* 
 liberately discharged its contents, by which one half 
 of his head was entirely blown away, and the barrel 
 of the gun severed from the stock. The apartments 
 were literally a human slaughter-house, where death 
 reigned in undisturbed dominion. This tragic scene 
 closed the lips of the beholders in silence — astonish- 
 ment seemed to have paralyzed them. No one was 
 
 8*
 
 90 SUPERIOR CHURCH MUtilC, A BLESSING. 
 
 able to give utterance to the deep and ojiprcssive 
 feelings of the heart, and the company retired, in- 
 creasingly convinced, that great indeed is the depra- 
 vity of man. 
 
 During this journey Mr. Stanford visited many of 
 his old friends, and preached at Soutiiamj)ton, Lower- 
 Duhlin, Burlington, and several other places. 
 
 At Bordentown, a Mrs. Day was introduced to him^ 
 who «aid that many years ago, when she was a girl of 
 about fifteen, she was induced to attend his lectures 
 in New- York, " particularly to hear the singing," when 
 it pleased God to convey the v.'ord of salvation to her 
 heart, and that the Lord from that time had enabled 
 her to walk in the paths of righteousness. This to 
 Mr. Stanford was indeed a cause of thanksgiving, and 
 an incitement to future perseverance in the work of 
 the Lord. 
 
 His diary for the last day in the year closes with 
 the following pious reflections: — " Oh! what great 
 reason have J to be humble and thankful for the 
 Lord's dealings with me this year ! Many signal de- 
 liverances have 1 received, and ten thousand mercies 
 have surrounded my paths. Let my soul for ever 
 praise my God for his unsj^eakable goodness to me 
 and my family ; and may I ever cherish an ardent 
 desire to be devoted to the honour of his blessed 
 name! If I can say nothing else on this last day 
 of the year, I can most assuredly declare, that I 
 can and do resign myself, body, soul, and spirit, into 
 ihe hand of the blessed Saviour, to be transformed 
 into his holy image, and to serve, honour, and glorify 
 liim, until the days of my pilgrimage on earth shall 
 end; then I hope, through grace, with him in hea- 
 ven, to spend an eternity in j)leasnre and in praise!" 
 As the last hours of the departed year had been 
 employed in acknowledging the mercies of God, so he 
 began the year 1803 with fervent prayer, that every 
 future dispensation of Providence towards him might
 
 HIS SERVICES MULTIPLIED. 91 
 
 be subservient to the glory of God, and the benefit of 
 his fellow-creatures. On New-Year's day he heard a 
 sermon on 1 Cor. vii. -31 — " The fashion of this u-orld 
 passcth away.'''' Upon this he remarks : — " O how true 
 in regard to every thing suhlunary. It has been so 
 with me ; and under this discourse I was assisted to 
 bring to recollection the many variegated scenes 
 through which I had passed ; surely my life has been 
 like Joscj)h's coat of divers colours. May .Joseph's 
 God he mine! Then, though the cup of aflliction be 
 found in my sack, it will the better speed my v/ay, to 
 see his face with joy!" 
 
 During the greater part of this year his health 
 was extremely feeble, and his mind seems to have 
 experienced, alternate light and shade. Two new 
 services were couiinenc^cd and continued this year. 
 One, at the then upi)cr end of Greenwich-street, for 
 the afternoon, there being no place of worship in that 
 vicinity ; the other, a lecture for the evening, in 
 Barclay-street; both of which were well attended, and 
 the Lord graciously blessed his v/ord preached to 
 saints and to sinners. 
 
 In May he visited Brookfiold, as a delegate to the 
 Warwick Association. Agreeably to previous ap- 
 pointment, he opened the religious services of the 
 meeting with a discourse from John xxi. 15 — 17 — 
 " So U'htn Ihey had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, 
 Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me jnore tlian' these') 
 He saith unto him, Yea, Lord: thou knowest that Hove 
 thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to 
 him again the second time, Si?non, son of Jonas, lovest 
 thou me ? He saith unto him. Yea, Lord : thou hio^rcst 
 that I Jove thee. He saith unto him. Feed my shee^f. 
 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, 
 lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said vnto 
 him the third time, I^ovest thou me? And he said unto 
 him. Lord, thou himeest all things: thou knouest that I 
 love thee. Jcsu^ saith unto him, Feed my sheep.'''' — Three
 
 92 THE LOG-BGOK. 
 
 days were employed in the harmonious transaction of 
 piibHc business, and the session closed under circum- 
 stances calculated to convince all present, that God 
 was in the assembly. 
 
 In the month of August a very destructive fever 
 again made its appearance, and the citizens fled to 
 the country for safety. Mr. Stanford retired with his 
 family to Mount-Pleasant, and there he endeavoured 
 to devote himself to the service of God, by preaching 
 in the village, and in visiting Peekskill, Salem, Bed- 
 ford, and some few towns on the borders of Connec- 
 ticut, teaching and preaching Jesus Christ, wherever 
 he went. It was not until the last of October that 
 the health of the city would permit him to return, and 
 even at that late part of the season, many, by impru- 
 dently neglecting to ventilate their houses, fell victims 
 to the disease. 
 
 As soon as circumstances would allow, he re- 
 opened his academy, and also resumed his evening 
 lectures; but it was not until December that either of 
 them were even moderately attended. This year he 
 published another sermon, and also a *' Circular 
 Letter," addressed to the churches composing the 
 Association with which he stood connected. 
 
 The pages of his diary for 1804, are not unlike the 
 mariner's log-book. One part filled with the account 
 of storms and calms, pirates, rocks, and shoals ; while 
 other parts record the mercies of God in granting pros- 
 perous breezes, and a safe return to port. Through- 
 out the whole, whether " amid rocks and quicksands 
 deep," driven onward by the rolling tide, or quiet in 
 *' the treacherous calm," his constant prayer seems to 
 have been — 
 
 " Come Holy Ghost! and blow, 
 
 A proap'rous gale of grace ; 
 Waft me from all below, 
 
 To lieaveii — my destiii'd plare ! 
 Then, in full Kail, my port I'll find, 
 And leave the world and sin bolvind."
 
 GOOD NEWS. 93 
 
 After having ])rcaclied a sermon, under extreme 
 de})ressiou of mind, a minister wlio was present said 
 to liim — " \Vitliin a few months past, I was called 
 to visit a sick woman who used to attend your even- 
 ing lectures, which the Lord hlesscd to the conversion 
 of her soul from the error of her ways. 1 saw her 
 the day before her death ; she enjoyed a sense of 
 l)ardon and |)cace in Christ, and I have been subse- 
 quently informed that she died rejoicing in the Lord, 
 and this ought to comfort and strengthen you in the 
 labour of the gosjjel." This communication, though 
 Mr. Stanford had no distinct recollection of the wo- 
 man, made a serious impression ujjon his mind, and 
 proved an excitement to persevere even under tlie 
 greatest discouragements, in hoj)e of farther useful- 
 ness in the work of the Lord. On the last of April, 
 Dr. B***** returned from England, and brought 
 him letters from several very dear and valuable 
 friends. " This to me," said Mr. Stanford, " is like 
 what Solomon says — ^As cold wa/crs to a ttdrsty soul, 
 so is good news from a far country.'' Prov. xxv. 25. 
 Such a correspondence, at so great a distance, adds 
 beauty to the charms of friendship, and supports the 
 mind while sojourning in this vale of tears. But O 
 how superior to this is tiie good news of the gospel, 
 and the application of a promise from Jesus, tho 
 Prince of life, who has j)assed into the heavens." 
 
 In the month of August he took a journey to the 
 south, and i)reachcd in many places, particularly at 
 Lower-Dublin, Philadelphia, Salem, and Trenton. 
 In Philadelphia he was appointed to deliver a dis- 
 course to a meeting of ministfers. This service he 
 performed, from Ruth ii. 4 — " The Lord bless thee.'''' 
 At Salem he preached in the Presbyterian and Baptist 
 churches, both of which furnished full and attentive 
 auditories, although at the time a very malignant 
 fever prevailed in the town and neighbourhood, which 
 proved fatal to many of the inhabitants. Refreshed
 
 94 TYPHUS FEVER. 
 
 by these visits, he returned home on the 22d of Sep- 
 tember. The next day being the Sabbath, he 
 preached twice, with considerable satisfaction; but at 
 ten o'clock on Monday morning he was taken very ill ; 
 at twelve he was much worse ; and in a short time the 
 symptoms became quite alarming. It proved to be a 
 violent typhus fever; the infection of which it is sup- 
 posed he received on his late visit to Salem. Under 
 this afflictive dispensation he continued about two 
 weeks, when it pleased the Lord to rebuke the dis- 
 ease, and bring him up again from the gates of death. 
 During this illness, the Lord granted him the peculiar 
 consolations of the gospel, and he said with reference 
 to this affliction : " 1 do hope it was the means of 
 trimming my lamp, that i may be ready when death 
 shall really appear." ]^Iore than five weeks elapsed 
 before he was able again to preach ; but by the close 
 of the year, his strength was so far restored, that 
 with some degree of satisfaction he could once more 
 ajiply himself to the discharge of his public duties.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MR. Stanford's purn.ic duties increase in numrer and 
 
 IN RESPONSIBFLITV ALARM I5Y FIRE COMMENOKS HIS 
 
 CUATUITOUS LABOURS IN THE NEW-YORK ALMS-HOUSE, 
 AND STATE-PRISON. 
 
 The following copious extract from his journal will 
 explain the feelings of his heart, as well as narrate 
 the events of his life, during the year 1805. 
 
 " It has pleased God to spare my life to the com- 
 mencement of another year, and now I am anxious, 
 if it may please the Lord, to grant me some word of 
 j)romise, upon which, as a staff in my hand, I may 
 commence and pursue my journey, should I be per- 
 mitted to live through the present year. In due time, 
 the last verse of t!ie 23d Psalm was powerfully im- 
 pressed upon my mind — ' Surely goodness and mercy 
 shall follow me all the days of my life: and I icill divell 
 in the house of the Lord, for ever.'' However, I was 
 induced to inquire, what right I had to appro{)riate it ? 
 Looking over the Psalm, and comparing it with the 
 liistory of my life, I had abundant reason to believe 
 that the Lord had been '■my Shepherd f he had often 
 ' restored my souP from wandering, and constantly 
 ' prepared a table for me in the wilderness' of my sor- 
 rows; I was therefore encouraged to hope tiiat tliis 
 text would be made good to me in the progress of my 
 journey, and 1 have really found it so." 
 
 The public labours of Mr. Stanford were unusually 
 great, whether we speak of their variety or their ex- 
 tent. He could not therefore be expected, like 
 Tellif.R, the Chancellor of France, to make very 
 great progress in mental cultivation during the last 
 twenty years of his life, yet such was his habitual in-
 
 OG MEDITATION IN THE FIELDS. 
 
 dustry, that even this was not wholly neglected* 
 Besides tlic periodical publications of the day, with 
 most, if not all of the more elaborate commentaries, 
 and books on practical divinity, he read the History 
 of the Church with great care. In the history of the 
 Moravian missionaries to Greenland, and the mis- 
 sions of his own and other denominations, to the 
 deluded heathen, he took a very deep interest. Upon 
 this point he remarks: — " L observe that the princi- 
 pal, if not the only subject on which they preached, 
 was the love of Christ in suffering and dying for guilty 
 men; and God blessed this simple, though important 
 subject, to the conversion of multitudes, who were 
 enveloped in the darkness of superstition, and who 
 were accustomed to the grossest vices. I also greatly 
 admire the holy zeal of those missionaries, in en- 
 countering hardships and perils in the course of their 
 journeys, to promote the glory of God in Christ, and 
 the conversion of the most abject classes of mankind. 
 Alas ! I feel constrained to blush before the throne 
 of my God, and deplore the small portion of zeal 
 which 1 possess* O that the Lord would enlighten 
 and strengthen my heart in the discharge of every 
 duty, and make me faithful until I die !" 
 
 In June iie visited a friend in Newark, hoping to 
 derive an augmentation of bodily health and mental 
 vigour, from a change of air and scenery. " Here," 
 he says, " I found it beneficial frequently to wander 
 alone in tlie fields, for the purpose of meditation and 
 devotion. And here I do believe I received such 
 tokens of my God's goodness, and instructions in his 
 holy word, as to animate me, in some degree, to 
 persevere in the work of the Lord." 
 
 The pious Matthew Henry used to nay : — " It will 
 do us good to be often alone ; and if we have the art 
 of improving solitude, we shall find we are never 
 less alone than when alone. 3Icditation and prayer 
 ought to be both our business and our delight when
 
 ULTIUEMKNT, MEDITATION, A.ND PRAYER. 97 
 
 u'c are alone; wlille we have a God, a Christ, and a 
 heaven to acquaint ourselves with, and to secure an 
 interest in, we need not want matter either for 
 reflection or devotion, which, if they go together, will 
 mutually befriend each other. Our walks in the 
 ticlds are then truly pleasant, when in them we 
 walk with God. There we have a free and open 
 prospect of the heavens above us, and the earth 
 around us, and the hosts and riches of both ; by the 
 A iew of which we should be led to the contemplation 
 of the Maker and Owner of all." The spiritual 
 minded IJaxter, Brainard, and Cowper, loved, and 
 frc(|uently souglit the enjoyments of solitude — " Par- 
 ticularly, " said Mr. Baxter, " have 1 found that 
 the fittest time for myself is in the evening." The 
 prevailing opinion of the most pious and learned in 
 every age has been, that meditation more than any 
 other hunian means, has a tendency to invigorate the 
 mental faculties, render the ordinances of religion 
 fruitful, increase the comfort, and promote the holiness 
 of the Christian. It is therefore equally a subject of 
 surprise and lamentation, that Christians, generally, 
 are so little inclined to avail themselves of this ines- 
 timable privilege. No Cliristian, whether he be a 
 minister, or uninvested with a public office, can long 
 maintain a holy walk with God, if he allows himself to 
 be carried forward in the perpetual whirl of pubHc 
 business. The soul, in order to its healthful action, 
 requires that salutary rest which retirement, medita- 
 tion, and prayer, are calculated to impart, no less 
 than the {)hysical energies demand the restoring in- 
 fluences of quietude and aliment. 
 
 " III secret silence of the iniiul, 
 
 My heav'ii, and there my Gud 1 find." 
 
 From a memorandum in his diary, it appears, that 
 in the wooiU on Long-Island, 3Ir. Stanford wrote 
 
 9
 
 08 SANCTll'lED AFFLICTlO-\. 
 
 vvitli a lead pencil, a considerable part of his " Aged 
 Christian's Cabinet." 
 
 At the particular reqnest of the Lutheran church, 
 ill Mott-street,* Mr. Stanford ofliciated for them two 
 Lord's days in August, with great satisfaction to his 
 own mind, and very much to the edification of the 
 »;ongregationi But this service was followed by very 
 serious consequences. On Monday afternoon, about 
 three o'clock, he was attacked by a violent fever, 
 l)robably owing to liis returning from church on the 
 previous evening, while in a state of perspiration. 
 Lender this affliction the Lord mercifully preserved 
 his mind in great tranquillity, although the fever con- 
 tinued about three weeks ; and more than a month 
 elapsed before he was enabled to resume his public 
 labours. He says: — " During this illness, I was fa- 
 voured with stronger evidences of the truth of the 
 Bible, and of the power of God's grace, than I had 
 ever before possessed, and for which I hope I am 
 humble and thankful." How true is it, that the 
 most useful lessons are acquired in the furnace of 
 affliction. And — - 
 
 " The good are better made by ill, 
 As odonrs crusb'd are sweeter still." 
 
 By the advice of physicians, though yet very weak, 
 lie took a journey, in conq)any with a ministering 
 brother, by gentle stages, through New-Jersey and 
 Pennsylvania. Here he spent several weeks, visiting 
 and preaching from town to town. During this ex- 
 cursion, his health e.\|)eri(Mic(!(l many vuriations, aiul 
 iiis fever frerpiently rcjturiKMl with great violence. 
 
 While in I'cmnsylvania, he enjoyed the hospitnlitieoi 
 of Thomas Holmes, Esq. at Holmesburg, whose a>mi- 
 
 * TliiH church occupied a building, erected upon the spot where now 
 •lands till! large stout! edifice, iniowu as " Zion Church." The tbrtuer 
 ;>laco of worship was I.Mi;ut ilown in Itill.
 
 LETTIIR TO THE .SIlAFTSnURV ASSOCIATION. 00 
 
 able wife died during the visit of Mr. Stanford at tlioir 
 house. At the particular reijiiest of the surviving 
 family, he preached the funeral sermon, in the pulpit 
 of the Rev. Samuel Jones, D. D. from Luke viii. 52 
 — " S/ie is not dead, but slccpcfh.^^ The Rev. William 
 Rogers, D. D. of Philadelphia, closed tlie service with 
 prayer. During inter\'als of comparative ease, he 
 delivered several discourses at Holme burg; and at 
 Nevv-Rritain he preached to a large assembly of 
 ministers, convened at an annual Association, by 
 whose recpiest he wrote a letter to the Shaftsbury 
 Association, from which the following is an extract. 
 
 " BELOVED IN THE LORD, 
 
 " Although during this session we have been de- 
 prived of the pleasure of hearing from you, either by 
 letter, or by messenger; our ardent desire for your 
 spiritual prosperity prompts us to address you, and 
 to forward to you our minutes. The cause of our 
 assembling this season at New-Britain, is the afflic- 
 tive visitation of God to the city of Philadelphia, with 
 pestilence. Dreadful calamity ! May the hand which 
 smiteth us, produce reformation of manners among 
 all classes; but especially in the churches of that 
 hitiierto greatly favoured city. 
 
 " The communications we have received from our 
 churches, and corresponding Associations, have af- 
 forded us the highest pleasure, and laid us under 
 increased obligations of gratitude to Jesus, the King 
 of Zion. Probably no other religious denomination 
 in America is, at the present time, increasing with 
 such unexampled rapidity as our own. May the 
 mercies of the Lord inspire our brethren with greater 
 humility, and that fervent piety which shall best 
 evince our attachment to his holy cause. 
 
 " We believe it to be of the highest importance to 
 ourselves as individuals, and for the prosperity of 
 religion in the world, that we continue to seek after
 
 100 BAPTISTS, NOT ADDICTED TO POLITICS. 
 
 the knowledge of the simple truth, as it is in Jesus ; 
 the truth revealed in tlie sacred scriptures, in pre- 
 ference to the opinions of men. Brethren, let us read 
 our Bibles on our knees, and in constant dcpendance 
 upon the influence and teaching of the Spirit of Truth. 
 Thus through grace shall we be able to teach our 
 people to profit, and be preserved from the contami- 
 nating errors of the present day. 
 
 " Permit us, dear brethren, to suggest, that to us 
 as a denomination, it is of great importance to ex- 
 amine, with careful attention, the sentiments of those 
 who are candidates for the work of the ministry. Ijet 
 us earnestly beseech the Lord Jesus to direct us in 
 the choice of those whom he will graciously own iti 
 the work of the gospel, and make ' our croicn and our 
 
 " The history of the Baptists in every age furnishes 
 the strongest assurances that our forefathers were 
 scrupulous in withdrawing, as much as possible, from 
 political concerns; well knowing, that our Saviour's; 
 kingdom ' is not of this world.'' We believe, that, as 
 citizens, we are entitled to the exercise of private 
 opinion, and all the rights of citizenship ; but there 
 have been so many instances in which persons of 
 talents and grace, by plunging into the troubled 
 waters of political life, have thereby lost the bloom of 
 their profession, and their usefulness in Zion, that 
 we regard it as our paramount duty, to let our political 
 moderation be known unto all men, especially as we 
 are engaged in the more important interest of our 
 Redeemer^ s king-do?/}. 
 
 •' By order, and on behalf of the Association, 
 
 "JOHN STANFORD.' 
 
 His health being much improved, he bade adieu to 
 his friends in Pennsylvania, and arrived at home in 
 safety on the last day of October. " This year," he 
 remarks, " '■Goodness and mercy have indeed foUovoeU
 
 THE DOMESTIC CIIAl'LALV. 101 
 
 7//6'/ but it has been comparatively a year of mental 
 darkness and of unfrnitfidness. Lord, what am I, 
 that thou shonldest thus ileliver, and show me thy 
 salvation." Greatly depressed in mind, under a 
 sense of his sinfulness, but stru^glini>' ai^ainst its in- 
 fluence, his prayer was constant and fervent, tliat the 
 mercy of God might sustain him, until his last year 
 should flow into the ocean of eternity. 
 
 " Tiiere shall I see, and hear, and know, 
 All I desired, or wish'd below ; 
 And every power find sweet enjploy, 
 In that eternal world of joy." 
 
 As he ended the last year, so he began the year 
 1S06, under dark and painful exercises of mind. 
 " When," says he, " shall 1 walk in the light of God's 
 countenance, and feel that vivacity and zeal which are 
 so necessary to evince my Christian and ministerial 
 character.^ Still I cannot but adore the faithfulness 
 of my gracious God, and look for brighter days of use- 
 fulness and comfort. Like a mariner in a dark and 
 tempestuous night, 1 can let go my anchor of hope, 
 though I do not sensibly feel the ground on which it 
 should rest. Lord, sanctify and make use of me in 
 private or in public life, according to thy sovereign 
 will and pleasure." 
 
 On the 21st of February, a volume of lectures, con- 
 taing about 380 pages, under the title of " The 
 Domestic Chaplain," was sent to the press, accompa- 
 nied with many fervent prayers, that God might 
 employ it for the edification and comfort of souls, 
 and for the glory of his own grace. This work has 
 passed through several large editions, in this coun- 
 try and in England, and has, as its name imports, 
 preached the gospel to many families, where the 
 usual means of grace were not enjoyed. " The 
 Domestic Chaplain" has been a useful guide, not 
 
 only in private devotion, and in the social meeting, 
 
 9#
 
 102 THE DOMESTIC CHAPLAIN. 
 
 but it has served to instruct the soul of the Christian, 
 in the closet and in the parlour ; and to produce a more 
 intimate acquaintance with the volume of Diviuo 
 Revelation, by illustrating its doctrines, enforcing its 
 authority, and recommending the sacred institutions 
 of the gosj)el to the attention and approbation of the 
 reader. These advantages are afforded by the unos- 
 tentatious labours of " The Chaplain," in a manner 
 at once calculated to interest and to enlighten; wliih; 
 each short lecture sheds its hallowed influence over 
 the soul, without the pain of labour, or the consci- 
 ousness of design. A few short extracts fron) t!ic 
 author's preface, will explain more fully the character 
 of this valuable book. " My aim is to be useful in 
 promoting the moral interests of families, by dissemi- 
 nating some of the most important truths of the gospel, 
 in an agreeable variety, without those perplexing con- 
 troversies too prevalent among professors of Christi- 
 anity. I have also in view, the assistance of congre- 
 gations and societies in the country, who are frequently 
 destitute of stated ministers; presuming" that this 
 volume, in the hand of a good reader, may secure the 
 attendance of the people, and jiromote their instruc- 
 tion." — " Time is short — truth is divine and inestim- 
 ably precious. In the construction of these lectures, 
 I solemnly declare, that 1 have not introduced a single 
 sentence, but what, from deliberate thought, I firmly 
 believe bears the impress of the gospel, and is calcu- 
 lated to destroy vice, promote the purest virtue, and 
 aid the real Christian in his life and walk of faith." 
 We may therefore unhesitatingly recommend tl»is 
 work to the attentive perusal of all who desire the 
 knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ. 
 
 Letter from Mr. Stanford, on the recovery of his 
 friend, .Tohn Holmes, Esq. of Pennsylvania, from a 
 protracted illness.
 
 LETTER TO JOHN HOLMES, ESQ. 103 
 
 " New-York, March 2d, 1806. 
 
 " MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 " I was glad to hear, by your daughter, that you 
 were more comfortable than when I left you in Octo- 
 ber, for which I thank God on your behalf. May the 
 health of your body, and especially the spiritual 
 happiness of your soul, increase still more abundanti}-. 
 Wlien I read your ilaughter's letter concerning- you, 
 it brought to my mind, the thanksgiving of Ezra, 
 (x. 8) — ' God hath given its a liUle reviving in our 
 bondage.'' Indeed, while in this tabernacle of clay, 
 we are often many ways in bondage; but, how kind 
 is our Lord, by the light of liis countenance, the power 
 of his grace, and the sweets of his love, to give us, 
 although it be but ' a little' — a week — a day — or an 
 hour's revival. Bless the Lord, my brother. Hold 
 out a little longer, and you and I shall experience the 
 pangs of bondage no more! Those poor bodies will 
 then sleep in the grave, and our souls shall wing their 
 >vay 
 
 ' Wlieie all nre hless'd, 
 For all are free ' 
 
 " Divine Providence is one straight line, though to 
 us there may appear many a curve. He giveth grace 
 and .glory. He who bus given you the one, will most 
 assuredly confer the other. To his merciful care I 
 commend you, and remain, 
 
 " Your's in the Saviour, 
 
 "JOHN STANFORD." 
 
 In April he made a visit to the state of Connecticut, 
 and was exposed to many dangers on the passage; 
 yet out of th(^m all the Lord delivered him. Duriuij 
 this excursion, he preached in several towns, to very 
 crowded assemblies ; and, it is confidently believed, 
 that his labours were not in vain in the Lord. 
 
 This year he received a unanimous call to take the
 
 104 MERCIFUL I.NTERPOtniO.X OF PROVIDEXCE. 
 
 pastoral charge of the church in Burlington, New- 
 Jersey; and in the month of August he made them a 
 visit, preached eleven times, and administered bap- 
 tism and the Lord's supper. While in this place he 
 received visits from several neighbouring ministers, 
 whose remarks upon the subject of his settlement 
 with this church, greatly assisted him in discerning 
 the path of duty. After this he made a short visit 
 to his friends in Philadelphia, Frankfort, Holmes- 
 burg and Jjower-Dublin; from v^hom lie received 
 fresh tokens of brotherly-kindness, and to whom he 
 publicly communicated the glad tidings of salvation 
 through the blood of Jesus. He arrived at home in 
 safety on the 6th of September. 
 
 On the 2Jst of this month, another instance of the 
 Lord's peculiar care of Mr. Stanford and his family 
 occurred. The fomily retired at the usual time, but 
 Mr. S. remained until a late hour, employed in medi- 
 tating upon the confidence of Jeremiah in the midst 
 of his afflictions, at the time when he exclaimed — 
 " The Lord is my jwrtion, saiih my soul; therefore loilL 
 I hope hi hhn.^^ Lamentations iii. 24. While wrapt in 
 this heavenly contemplation, the appalling cry of 
 Fire ! Fire ! broke upon the stillness of midnight, and 
 in a few minutes the blaze flashed from the adjoining 
 house upon the windows of his chamber. The fury 
 of the encircling flames, and the confusion of the 
 multitude who soon rushed to the scene of danger — 
 the ringing of bells, the hoarse shout of the watchmen, 
 and the crash of falling timbers, added to the gloomy 
 terrors of a stormy night, constituted this, in many 
 respects, memorable event, truly a scene of liorror. 
 But through the divine favour, the flames were 
 averted from his habitation by a change of the wind, 
 and no extensive injury was sustained, although 
 several of the surrounding bouses were consumed. 
 So true is it, that those who have the Lord for their 
 portion, may hope in him under circumstances the
 
 VISIT T'J GOVKIlNOrv, BLOOMFIELD. 105 
 
 most aiariuing, and in every scene of danger. For, 
 wliilc as their portion, he gratifies and fills the soul, 
 lie is truly "^ 7'eri/ present help in time of need.'''' O 
 that our souls may attain the delightful assurance of 
 the prophet ; then will it be immaterial, what tria!s 
 and losses we sustain, while treading amid the thorns 
 and briars of the wilderness, as we pursue our journey 
 to the land of rest and peace in heaven. 
 
 On the last of November, circumstances occurred 
 which enabled Mr. Stanford to decide upon declining 
 the invitation from the church in IJurlington; tliis 
 course was aj)proved l»y his most jtulicious friends. 
 Among other things which led to this determination, 
 was a secret inipression that he had not yet performed 
 all the work which the Lord intended him to do in 
 IVew-York. Mr. Stanford was not a man disposed to 
 yield to the guidance of mere impressions; yet in the 
 present case, as in all former invitations to leave the 
 city, there was something which jirevented his accept- 
 ance, for which at the time he was utterly unable to 
 account. But the developements of succeeding years 
 have snfiiciently demonstrated the will of God, and 
 also the wisdom of his servant, in remaining at the 
 post where Divine Providence had stationed hiiH, and 
 where, during the last twenty-five years of his life, 
 he occupied public stations of no common interest 
 and responsibility. 
 
 In his journey to Philadelphia, he stopped at Tren- 
 ton, and spent a day at the house of his Excellency 
 Joseph Bloomfield, Governor of New-.Jersey. This 
 was the anniversary of the defeat of the Hessian 
 troops, under the command of Colonel Rhal, who 
 was mortally wounded in the conflict with the Ameri- 
 cans, under command of General Washington, in 
 December, 177G.* The day was celebrated with 
 
 * The following £;raiihlc description of this highly interesting event iii 
 American history, is from the pen of an eloijiiont writer, who, when 
 sjieuking of the father ofliis country, remarks: —
 
 106 A MEMORABLE EVENT. 
 
 great military pomp, and at the request of the 
 Governor and his friends, Mr. Stanford delivered an 
 
 " In no one instance, perhaps, was liis influence with the army so 
 strikingly exemplified, as in his attack on the enemy at Tientou. O'er 
 and o'er have I listened with intense anxiety, in the day of my boyhood, 
 ■whilst my now departed sire, who fought and bled on that proud held, 
 recited, with thrilling interest, all that related to the enterprise. It wiu 
 on a December's night, (would he say) when our little heart-broken army 
 halted on the banks of the Delaware. That night was dark — cheerless — 
 tempestuous — and bore a strong resemblance to our country's fortunes ! 
 It seemed as if heaven and eartli had conspired for our destruction. The 
 clouds lowered — darkness and the storm came on apace. The snow and 
 the hail descended, beating with unmitigated violence upon the supper- 
 le-ss, half-clad, shivering soldier — and in the roarings of the flood, and the 
 wailings of the storm, were heard, by iliucies ear, the knel of our hopes, 
 and the dirge of liberty ! The impetuous river was fdled with floating 
 ice; an attempt to cross it at that time, and under such circumstMnces, 
 peemed a desperate enterprise ; yet it was undertaken ; and thanks be to 
 God and Washington, was accomplished. 
 
 " From where we landed on the Jersey shore to Trenton, was abont 
 nine miles, and on the whole line of march there was scarcely a word 
 uttered, save by the oti'icors when giving some order. We were well 
 nigh exhausted, said he, many of us frost-bitten, and the majority of us 
 80 badly shod that the blood gushed from our frozen'and lacerate(i fe<;t; 
 yet we upbraided not, complained not, but marched steadily and tirndy, 
 though moiunfuily onward, resolved to persevere to the uttermost — not 
 for our country — our country alas! we had given uj) for lost. Not for 
 ourselves — life for us no longer wore a charm — but because such was the 
 will of our beloved chief — 'twas for Washington alone we were willing to 
 make the sacrifice. W^hen we arrived within sight of the enemy's en- 
 campments, we were ordered to form aline, when Washington reviewed 
 us. Pale and emaciated, disinrited and exhausted, we presented a most 
 unwarlike and melancholy as|)ect. The paternal eye of our chi(;f was 
 quick to discover the extent of our sufieriugs, and acknowlcMlgcd them 
 with his tears: but suddenly cheeking his emotions, he reminded us tiiat 
 our country, and all that we held dear, was staked upon the coming 
 battle. As he spoke we began to gather ourselves up, and rally our ener- 
 gies — every man grasped his arms more firmly — and the clenched hand, 
 and the compressed lip, and tiic; steadfast look, and the knit brow, told tiie 
 soul's resolve. Washington observed us well ; then did he exhort us with 
 all the fervor of his soul, ' On yonder field to conquer, or die the death of 
 the brave.' At that instant the glorious sun, as if in pro|)hetic token of 
 our success hurst forth in all his s|)lendour, bathing in rupiid light the blue 
 hills of Jersey. The liicps vviiich but a few minutes betbrf; were; blanched 
 with despair, flowed with martial fire; and animalion. Our chief", with 
 <'x\dtiition, haileil the scene; tiieu c:islin:r iiis doubts to the wind, an<l call- 
 ing on the ' (>od of l)attles' and his faithful soldiers, led on to the charge. 
 The conHi'jt was fierce and bloody h'or more; than twenty n\inutes, not 
 n gun was (ired — the sabre and bayonet did the work of destruction, 'twas 
 a hurricane of lire, ;ind steel, and death. Inhere did we stand (woidd he 
 say) theie did we stand, ' f()ot to foot, and liilt to hilt.' with the serried 
 iov I und where we stood we died or con(juered."
 
 NKW year's sermon. 107 
 
 aJtliess to the assembled multitude, adopting, as his 
 motto, the text iii Acts xxii. 28 — ^^ I wan frcc-horn.'" 
 The sul)stance of this address, with an account of 
 the celebration, were published in the Trenton news- 
 papers. 
 
 The following Lord's day was spent in Philadelphia, 
 where he preached in three diiferent churches. The 
 last day in the year was passed at Lower-Dublin, in 
 the society of the Rev. Dr. Jones, and a few other 
 old friends, in praising God for his goodness to them 
 (luring the past year, and for his cheering promise, 
 that he will never leave nor forsake them that put 
 their trust in him. 
 
 The first day of the year 1S07, found 3Ir. Stanford 
 still in Pennsylvania. In the morning he preached 
 in the Rev. Dr. Jones' church, to a very large con- 
 gregation, from Acts xxvi. 22 — " Ilaviiig therefore 
 obtained help of God, I continue unto this day.'''' Upon 
 this text he remarks : " With grateful emotions would 
 I confess before men, the debt of love I owe to my 
 good and gracious God, who has had patience with 
 njy sinful heart and barren life so many years. O 
 that by the same help, I may yet persevere, until the 
 days of my pilgrimage on earth shall end !" In the 
 evening he preached at Ilolmesburg, to a large assem- 
 bly, on which occasion the Lord was |)leased to grant 
 him special comfort in contemplating the words of 
 David in Psalm xlviii. 14 — ^'For this God is our God 
 for ever and ever: he luill be our guide even nnto death.'''' 
 " This," said he, " comprehends all 1 want. May 
 the liord enable me more abundantly (o claim this 
 relation, ami may I trust him as my i"aithful and un- 
 erring guide, through all the duties, trials, and changes 
 of my future life." 
 
 A short time after his return to New- York, he 
 addressed the following letter to his Excellency, 
 Governor RIoomlield, of IS'ew-Jersey : —
 
 .108 LK'ITEU TO GOVERNOR BLOOMFILLD. 
 
 " MY DE\R .-Hi, 
 
 " It gave me pleasure to hear, by Mr. Coles, that 
 vourseir and family were in good health. lie ex- 
 pressed your wish, that 1 should transmit to you a copy 
 of what is called ' The Usurpation of Buonaparte.' 
 You will find it enclosed. By this favourable con- 
 veyance, 1 return you ' Solomon's Common Places.' 
 On my first entering on the examination of the manu- 
 script, I found some difhculty from the obsolete lan- 
 guage employed, when compared with our present 
 translation; but recollecting that the author might 
 have used Beza's copy, and having that in my study, 
 it gave me considerable assistance. I have examined 
 all the texts, and find them generally correct; and 
 where I thought it was necessary, I have made cor- 
 rections with a black lead pencil. These are submit- 
 ted to your judgment, and which, at pleasure, if 
 necessary, you can easily erase. If in tliis trifling 
 service I have answer(Ml your wishes, I shall be amply 
 comj)ensated. Although Mr. Coles will tell you a 
 httle about me, I shall take another dip of ink to 
 say, that I go on in the old way. Last month, con- 
 taining thirty days, I preached twenty-eight sermons, 
 ^i'his, you will say, is enough for any man ; but you 
 must know, good Sir, 1 am what some people call a 
 ' general lover;' by which you will understand, that 
 although 1 maintain with firmness the j)rofessions of 
 what 1 believe to be the v,'ill of my God, in his gos- 
 ))cl, yet I devote my public labours to all religious 
 denominations without distinction. Indeed, I am the 
 only minister in the city that can be called so far truly 
 ' rtipublican.' To me it is a source of peculiar hap- 
 piness, that I receive the attention of Baptists, Inde- 
 pendents, Lutherans, Moravians, and others. I know 
 you will not be angry with me for this liberality. 
 Semper cail.i in, (always the sani(>) is my motto, |)reach 
 wh«;re 1 /nay ; indeed it is all of a price ; for although 
 I hav c j)rca<;l;<'d about three luind;<.'d sermons during
 
 LETTER TO GOVERNOR BLOOMFIELD. 109 
 
 this year, yet 1 have not received pecuniary compen- 
 sation sufficient to purchase a pinch of snufF! 
 
 " The winter progresses, and I shall not be able 
 to venture out much in the evening. Having dis- 
 missed your manuscript, and some other things of 
 a similar nature, I must now, Deo volcnte, contrive 
 something to employ my pen during the long evenings. 
 1 have thought of taking up some old lectures on 
 theology, which I formerly delivered in Rhode-Island, 
 and subsequently, to young gentlemen who have 
 studied with me for the ministry, so as to make some- 
 thing hke an easy text book for students in that 
 department, and to be useful to young men who have 
 not had the benefit of a classical education. 
 
 " It is unnecessary for me to say any thing to your 
 Excellency on the gloomy appearances of public 
 affairs in our beloved America. I am no dabbler in 
 politics. It better becomes me to teach men the way 
 of salvation, and pray for universal liberty and peace. 
 
 " My dear friend, you and I may never hve to see 
 it, yet I am confident that every one of the human 
 family will eventually say, ' I am free horn.^ 
 
 *' Do me the favour of presenting my affectionate 
 regards to Mrs. Bloomfield, Miss M'llvaine, and your 
 nephew, Mr. Potter. Although I may not drink a 
 glass of wine with you next New- Year's day, my 
 prayer is, that you may * spend your days in pros- 
 perity, and close your years in peace/ 
 " I am, 
 
 " Your's most sincerely, 
 
 "JOHN STANFORD 
 '' Neic-Yorh, December 2d, 1807." 
 
 The following is Governor Bloomfield's reply. 
 
 " Trenton, December 20th, 1807. 
 
 *' MY DEAR .SIR, 
 
 " Your favour of the 2d of this month, with your 
 10
 
 110 LETTER FROM GOVERNOR BLOOMFIELD. 
 
 good little pamphlet, (inultum in parvo) ' Solomon's 
 Common Places,' and ' The Usurpation of Buona- 
 parte,' in one envelope, were received of Mr. Coles 
 yesterday. 
 
 "Alderman M'lleeloy, last week procured for Mrs. 
 Bloomfield, a copy of your excellent tract, which a 
 good lady of her acquaintance requested as a present 
 for a particular person, and she has been gratified 
 with another copy by Mr. Coles. Parson P. Wilson 
 called to see me yesterday, just after the reception of 
 your packet. 1 took the liberty to mention the indus- 
 try of a brother clergyman, who had preached one- 
 third of a century; upon which Mr. Wilson said, that 
 Mr. Stanford's publications had done much good, and 
 that he was a very useful man ; in which Mrs. Bloom- 
 field and myself very readily accorded. 
 
 " Solomon's Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, contain 
 stores of wisdom, a])plicable to every situation of life ; 
 his maxims, digested and arranged by good Bishop 
 Hall, if properly printed, might arrest the attention 
 of persons who would not otherwise read the sacred 
 books. 
 
 " ' Usurpation of Buonaparte,' 1 requested Mr. 
 Coles to purchase for me, and never intimated to him 
 that you should have the trouble of ]irocuring it ; my 
 message by him to you was, that ' Mr. Stanford will 
 please to take his own time in the correction of Solo- 
 mon's Common Places.' I am, however, not the less 
 obliged by your and your son's attention ; and I am 
 determined to seize the first opportunity of convincing 
 you that I have not forgotten your Kiany favours. I 
 hope to visit you when I pass through New- York, 
 probably in .July. 
 
 "Assure yourself, that I cannot add to the respect 
 and esteem with which I am, 
 " Very truly, 
 
 " Your friend, and most obedient servant, 
 
 " JOSEPH BLOOMFIELD."
 
 NEW-YORK ALMS-IIOIISE. ill 
 
 Tliis, to Mr. Stanford, proved to be a year of unusual 
 activity and interest. Tlie Bethel church in Broome- 
 slrcct, which had for several years been in a declining- 
 condition, imited him to preach for them as fre- 
 (luontly as his other engagements would permit ; and 
 it is believed that his labours in this congregation 
 were not in vain in the Lord. 
 
 March 2d, he was invited to preach in the Alms- 
 I louse, where, for the first time, he was called to ad- 
 dress an assembly composed of the sick, the lame, the 
 blind, and miserable, of both sexes and of all ages. 
 His text on this occasion was Phillipians iv. 11 — " / 
 have learned in ichaisoevcr state 1 am, ihereicith to he 
 content.''^ Interesting as this scene must have been, 
 yet, could he have removed the vale which conceals 
 the events of futurity, and anticipated the extensive 
 and protracted services which God had appointed for 
 him among these poor and afflicted creatures, he 
 would probably liave shrunk from the task. But it is 
 a part of the merciful arrangements of Divine Provi- 
 dence, that " The morrow shall take thought for the 
 things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil 
 thereof:' 
 
 " God gives to every good man 
 The virtue, temper, understanding, taste, 
 Tiiat lifts him into hfe, and lets him fall 
 Just in the very niche he was ordain'd to fill." 
 
 >Several years intervened before 3[r. Stanford was 
 called to be the stated preacher of tlie gospel in the 
 New- York Aims-House, although he did not fail oc- 
 casionally to visit, and proclaim the message of mercy 
 to the poor. From the year 1807, until 1811, we are 
 not informed that public worship was regularly main- 
 tained in this institution; but in the early part of that 
 year, a licentiate of one of the Baptist churches in 
 this city, received an invitation from vVlderman Fur- 
 man, to preach on Wednesday, Friday, and Sabbath
 
 112 HIS FIELD OF LABOUR. 
 
 evenings. A morning service was shortly afterwards 
 commenced. These services vvere gratuitously con- 
 tinued for nearly two years. During tiiis season, the 
 Rev. E. S. Ely commenced his labours in the same 
 place; and in the month of January, 1813, the Rev. 
 John Stanford, and the Rev. E. S. Ely, vvere em- 
 ployed by the society established for preaching the 
 Gospel to the poor in the City-Hospital and Ahns- 
 llouse. The Rev. Mr. Ely continued his services 
 until June 1813, when Mr. Stanford received the 
 exclusive appointment as chaplain of these institutions. 
 His labours were subsequently extended to the State- 
 Prison, Bridewell, Magdalen-House, Orphan-Asylum, 
 Debtor's Prison, Penitentiary, Lunatic- Asylum, Black- 
 well's Island, Marine-Hospital, and City-Hosj)ital, 
 where he continued nearly twenty years to labour 
 with ardent and devoted attention. It is gratifying 
 to be able to say, that his ministry was blessed to the 
 conversion of many souls; nor were these instauccs 
 confined to the sick and the dying; but many, in all 
 the vigour of manhood, and pursuing a course of the 
 most blasphemous daring ; have been brought in tears 
 to the feet of Christ, and have, after their emancipa- 
 tion from bondage, recorded it to the honour of divine 
 grace, that they were set free from the power of dark- 
 ness; evenv.hile bound in chains, they listened to the 
 gospel which he preached to them v. ithin the gloomy 
 walls of a prison. Yes, the hardened culprit has been 
 seen to shed the penitential tear, and the strong men 
 have been constrained to bow the knee to Jesus, 
 while, with treud)ling, they have cried out, " Jl/uit 
 shall we do tube savcdT^ The young and the old, the 
 sick, and those in health, have been blessed through 
 his instrumentality. And while the living have thus 
 become better jnepared to serve God, and to enjoy 
 his mercies, the dying have caught the encouraging 
 words of the gospel as they fell from his lips, and 
 mingled their praises with the redeemed before the
 
 OBriTACLKS DID NOT IMPEDE HIM. 113 
 
 throne, as a testimony of their faith in the blood of 
 the Lamb. 
 
 It is no less true of John Stanford, than of John 
 Howard, that as the friend and the pastor of the 
 wretched prisoner, the orphan, and the miserable of 
 every ckiss, " he trod an open but unfrequented path 
 to immortahty," in the ardent and unremitted exercise 
 of Christian charity; and it is devoutly to be wished, 
 that this tribute to his memory may excite others to 
 emulate his truly benevolent conduct. He officiated 
 not in the splendid temples, where the charms of 
 music, and the cushioned accommodation, invite a 
 gay and ha[)py multitude; no, his duties led him to 
 the dark cell of the criminal — his feet trod the floors 
 where loathsome disease, and squalid poverty, and 
 death prevailed; and where, but for his untiring 
 fidelity, it is believed that many hundreds would have 
 perished without the knowledge of Christ. No seve- 
 rity of climate, no previous fatigues, no bodily pain, 
 could prevent him, if it was possible, from responding 
 to the calls of the distressed. We have seen him, 
 under all the infirmities of seventy-eight years, and 
 while enduring great bodily pain ; in the most op- 
 j)ressive days of July and August, slowly directing his 
 course to the Hospital, the Aims-House, or the City- 
 Jail, there to administer to the spiritual wants of those 
 whose temporal woes he could not alleviate. He 
 seemed to have adopted as a motto the well-known 
 maxim — " Hand ignara mali, miseris succurrere 
 disco." 
 
 The writer has frequently acconn)anied the vener- 
 able man on errands of mercy to the poor, and from 
 his mind, those interesting scenes will never be effac- 
 ed. O with what eager attention did the children of 
 sorrow listen to his voice, while with tears of gratitude 
 they have been seen crowding around him at the 
 close of the service, and, like a family of affectionate 
 children, entreating him soon to return ! Yes, we 
 
 10*
 
 114 GRATITUDE OF HIS HEARERS. 
 
 have gone with him to the hospital, and witnessed 
 
 the effects of the words of peace which he uttered in 
 the audience of those who, but for him, would pro- 
 bably never have heard the message of salvation. 
 We have been with him in the lonely cell of the 
 condemned malefactor, and seen the man of crime 
 and of blood relent under his preaching, and thank 
 the God of mercy who sent him thither.* 
 
 The amount of service performed by Mr. Stanford, 
 as chaplain of the above named Institutions, is be- 
 lieved to be without a parallel in modern times. This 
 fact would appear quite evident, if the reader could 
 peruse the many folio volumes which he has tilled with 
 the diurnal account of his labours. The nature of 
 this work uill only allow us to intersperse a few brief 
 
 * While writing the memoir of a Baptist minister, it is gratifying to 
 quote the opinion of the British Cicero, respecting a hiymau of the same 
 denomination, and whose hfe was devoted to the same cause — we mean 
 the immortal John Howard. This wonderful man was born in the year 
 1726, at Enfield, in England. He was a member of the Baptist congre- 
 gation in Little Wild-street, London, then under the care of the Rev. 
 Samuel Stennet, D. D. To mitigate the sutTerings of the distressed in 
 every clime, he travelled through England, France, (Jermany, Holland, 
 Italy, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, and Turkey. He 
 died of a pestilential lever, at Cliurson, on the 20lh of January, 1790, in 
 the sixty-fourth year of liis age. 
 
 " I cannot," says I'dmund Burke, " name this gentleman (Howard) 
 without remarking, that his labours and writings have done much to open 
 the eyes and hearts of mankind. lie has visited all Europe — not to survey 
 the sumptuousne.-s of palace.s, or the stateliness of temples ; not to make 
 accurate measurements (d'the remains of ancient grandeiu', nor to form a 
 scale of the curiosity of modern art ; not to collect medals, or collate 
 manuscripts; — but to dive into tlie depths of dungeons ; to plunge into 
 the infection of hospitids; to survey the mansions of sorrow and pain; to 
 take the guage and dimensions of misery, depression, and contempt ; to 
 remember the f.jrgotten, to attend to tlie nej;lected, to visit the forsaken, 
 and to compare and collate the di.stresses of all n:en in all countries. Ili.i 
 plan is oiiginal, and it i.j as full of genius as it is of hnmanily It was a 
 voyage of discovery, a circunuiavigation of charily. Already the bonetit 
 of his labour is felt more or less in every country, andIhoi)e he will 
 anticipate his final reward by seeing all its ellects fully realized in his 
 own. He will receive, not by retiul, but in gross, the reward of those 
 who visit iJie prisoner, and lie has so forestalled and monopolized this 
 branch of charity, tliat th(;re will be, I trust, little room to uierit by such 
 acts of benevolence hereafter." — Svcvdt lU Brislul. vrctivus lo the election 
 in 178a.
 
 A week's work. 115 
 
 extracts, by which the public may form some estimate 
 of the loss which they have sustained in his death. 
 The following- is a summary of a single week's work, 
 of this eminent and faithful minister of Jesus Christ, 
 and which is inserted in this place without reference 
 to dates. 
 
 " Tuesday — A discourse, &c. in the Lunatic-Asy- 
 lum ; two others in the upper ward of the City-Hos- 
 pital; after which all the wards are visited. 
 
 '• Uc'dncudai/ — Visit the Orphan-Asylum, examine 
 some of the children, and give them a discourse, &,c. ; 
 go to the State-Prison, preach twice, visit the sick, 
 and afterwards hear the young prisoners recite their 
 catechism. 
 
 " Thursday — Debtor's-Prison and Bridewell — a 
 discourse in each; but in the former place I fre- 
 quently meet with interruption. 
 
 ^^ Friday — Bellevue ; visit the two Hospitals in the 
 morning, and usually give a sermon in each; attend 
 as many wards as possible in the front building: 
 afternoon, preach in the Penitentiary, and examine 
 the school ; directly after, give a discourse to the 
 maniacs ; finish by examining the two Poor-house 
 schools. 
 
 " Lord^s day — At half-past eight, public service and 
 a sermon in the City-Hospital. 
 
 " After this I go to Bellevue, preach in the chapol 
 in the morning; directly after,- preach to the state 
 jjrisonersin the Penitentiary: afternoon, preach again 
 in the cha|)el, and twice in the month examine the 
 children in their catechism, in jiresence of the con- 
 gregation; which has a good eHect. 
 
 " When at the State-Prison, preach lu ice, and visit 
 the prison hosj)ital. 
 
 " All these places are visited oftcner when required 
 by the sick. This is the usual couise of the week. 
 
 " At'cragc oficcckltj discourses. — State-Prison three ; 
 Aims-House five ; City-Hospital three; Orphan-Asy-
 
 IIG ABOUNDLNG IN THE WORK OF THE LORD. 
 
 lum one ; Debtoi's-Prison one ; Bridewell one ; Pen- 
 itentiary two ; Lunatic-Asylum one ; Maniac-Hospital 
 one. Total eighteen. 
 
 During the past year Mr. Stanford delivered five 
 hundred and forty-seven sermons, and during the 
 present year, down to the 28th of November, he has 
 exceeded that number. 
 
 Although the above statement very far exceeds the 
 labours of ministers in general, yet even this was 
 frequently transcended by this indefatigable man. 
 That the above was not selected as a rare and un- 
 common instance of his laborious zeal for the salva- 
 tion of men, will be made to appear in the subsequent 
 pages. His pulpit labours were very abundant, be- 
 sides the ever varying scene of toil to which he was 
 called, in catechetical classes, funerals, parochial 
 visitations, &-c. <fec. 
 
 During the month of August, Mr. Stanford again 
 visited Mount-Pleasant, and the places adjacent, fre- 
 quently preaching to large and attentive congrega- 
 tions. 
 
 On the 20th, he assisted in the ordination of 3Ir. 
 Frederick Smith, in the church at Stamford, in Con- 
 necticut, and preached the sermon, from Jeremiah iii. 
 15, and made the ordaining prayer. After preaching 
 the gospel in several other places in the state, he 
 returned home, and entered again, with renewed 
 vigour, upon the discharge of his duties as the servant 
 of Christ. About the same time Mr. Stanford was 
 solicited by the Welsh church in Mott-street, to de- 
 liver a lecture on the evening of the first Sabbath in 
 every month, for the benefit of those who understood 
 the English language. This service he performed 
 gratuitously, and without interruption, ibr more than 
 two years. That the uneducated VVelsh who attended, 
 might not be entirely deprived of the benefit of the 
 lecture, the following order was adopted. The ser- 
 vices were introduced by a hymn, and prayer in Eng-
 
 HIS LABOURS IN THE STATK-PRISO-X. 117 
 
 lisli ; then followed a hymn hi Welsh; after the text 
 was announced, the pastor of the church repeated it 
 in \Velsh ; and when the lecture was closed, the pas- 
 tor prayed in Welsh, and the services were concluded 
 by singing an anthem in the same language. 
 
 In tiic month of October he received a special in- 
 vitation to preach in the chapel of the State-Prison. 
 His sermon on this occasion was from [saiah xlviii. 
 10 — '•^ I have chosen thee in the furnace of ajfiicliun.'''' 
 Soon after this, Nicholas Roome, Esjp the head keeper 
 of the prison, solicited him statedly to devote a portion 
 of his services to the benefit of that institution, espe- 
 cially on the first Lord's day in every month. This 
 was the commencement of his useful and long con- 
 tinued labours within the walls of the New-York 
 Stale-Prison, where, for nsore than twenty years, he 
 hail the immediate charge of the spiritual concerns of 
 its inmates. 
 
 A few months after Mr. Stanford commenced \nn 
 stated labours in this abode of human wo, the follow- 
 ing affecting case of conversion occurred. 
 
 " The case of J R , aged 20. 
 
 " I found this young man very low, and fast hast- 
 ening to the grave; ot which he himself appeared to 
 be sensible. On asking him the state of his mind, ho 
 replied, ' O, Sir, I am at a very great distance from 
 God; nor have I any expectation of being brought 
 nigh unto him. I have indeed been jiraying, but after 
 all, 1 do not think that I know the right end of prayer 
 from the beginning. If I could only say, Christ died 
 for me, that is all I wish — I should then be willing to 
 quit this sinful world. My parents, who live in A''er- 
 mont,gave me a good education ; but I now want some 
 better knowledge, to lead me to (iod. I have just 
 been talking to my companions on these subjects, yet 
 nothing seems to relieve my case.' I then took some 
 pains to instruct and to comfort him, by showing from
 
 118 CONVERSION OF J. R. 
 
 the scriptures, that distant sinners may be ' made 
 nigh hy the blood of Christ,'' and tb.at it was the office 
 ol" the Holy Spirit to give him precious faith in tfic 
 promises of the gospel, and to lead him to Jesus 
 Christ as a Saviour. During this conversation he 
 looked upon me with great earnestness, while tears 
 stood trembling in his eyes. I was about to leave 
 \\\m, when he earnestly recpicsted me to remember 
 him in my prayers. With this request I immediately 
 complied, and prayer was offered at the side of liis 
 bed. I hope 1 shall have occasion to rejoice for ever 
 in the Lord, concerning this poor young man. 
 
 " July 29th. Impressed with a concern for his soul, 
 1 hired a carriage on purpose to visit him. lie was 
 much worse, and could speak but Utile. ' My mind, 
 said he, ' is much relieved, and 1 am looking to the 
 Lord Jesus for the manifestation of his mercy.' I 
 handed him a tract, which I printed some time ago, 
 on ' The Way of Salvation,' and req^'cstcd one of his 
 fellow prisoners to read it to him. 
 
 "August 1st. Lord's day. After sermon this morn- 
 ing in the chapel, 1 again visited this sick young man. 
 ^Vith a jieculiarly cheerful smile, he assurv'^d me that 
 iiis mind was much more established by reading the 
 tract ; than which he said nothing could better have 
 suited his case, and that he could now pray in faith, 
 and hoped God would give him assurance of salva- 
 tion. 
 
 " Friday, Gth. About midnight .1 R dird, 
 
 " The following is the account of his last moments, 
 related by the person who altcnded him : — 
 
 " R knew that his (!iul was near — he desired 
 
 that his thanks be made to Mr. l\oome, the physician, 
 and yourself, for the kindness he had received. He 
 tlien spoke very seriously to all (he prisoners in the 
 room. I asked iiim how he felt himself? He replied, 
 ' I am f|ui(e composed — I have no iear of death — 
 (jiud has made me a happy man in Christ,' He then
 
 VICTORY THROUGH CHRIsT. 119 
 
 lold me to take care of myself, and bo prepared for 
 death. Directly after this he expired, rejoicing in 
 Christ. — *0 death, ichere is thy sting? O grave, 
 where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and 
 the strength of sin is the late. But thanks be to God, 
 irhirh givcth ns the victory, through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ:" 
 
 On a review of the past year, Mr. Stanford says : — 
 " I have every reason to be thankful for the bounties 
 of Providence to me and mine. Especially for the 
 riches of the Lord's mercy, and the kind supports I 
 ha\ e enjoyed in the performance of many new and un- 
 expected services as a minister of the blessed gospel. 
 Truly the Lord has been my God, my guide, and my 
 support to this day. O that my gratitude and obedience 
 were proportionate to my obligations. May my fu- 
 ture life be more truly humble, and devoted to the 
 cause of the Lord. Amen."
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 COMMENCES THE YEAR AVITII A PIOUS RESOLUTION TO DE- 
 VOTE ALL HIS TIME TO THE SERVICE OF GOD PUBLISHES 
 
 TWO TRACTS EXTENSIVE LABOURS. 
 
 Ills diary for 1808, commences with the following 
 pious and solemn remarks : — " January 1st, another 
 year commenced! O how fast my time flies; how 
 little has been done for the honour of my Lord, or 
 for the benefit of my fellow-creatures. The prayer 
 of the afflicted female, ' Lord help me,'' well suits my 
 case and my desires. 
 
 " What portion of this year I may live, is known 
 only to God, may it all be devoted to his glory." 
 
 New-Year's morning he preached to the Moravian 
 church, and in the evening at a chapel in Greenwich- 
 street. The reader may have perceived that it was 
 the pious custom of Mr. Stanford, with the opening of 
 each year, to pray to God to be directed to some 
 j)assage of scripture, as a means of guiding and sup- 
 porting his mind, if it should please the Lord to spare 
 iiim until its close. On this occasion his mind seems 
 to have been particularly directed to Hebrews xii. 2 
 — " Looking vnio Jesus, ihe author mid finisher of our 
 faith,'''' &,c. Upon which he remarks: — " Wliy should 
 I look to myself, where all is dark and wild? VVliy 
 should I not look to the exalted Saviour, who first 
 gave me faith, and who alone can secure its comple- 
 tion ? May this be my practice, as it is my privilege, 
 until in glory I shall see him face to face." 
 
 [n liis diary for the last day of Janiuiry, the follow- 
 ing praise- worthy note is f'onnd : — 
 
 " ] sensibly i'etd the want of time, fur the prayerful 
 and deliberate discharge of my duty to the sould of
 
 WORTHY OF IMITATION. 121 
 
 men, owing to my daily labour in the academy, and 
 repeated invitations to private fajnifi/ visits, which con- 
 sume much time, with little or no advantage to my- 
 self or others. Therefore, in the strength of the 
 Lord, I do this day resolve, to spend no more time 
 in this manner, but as much as possible to devote 
 the hours not employed in the academy, to private 
 study, and in following after God and his truth. 
 This resolution is not only proper in itself considered, 
 but as I have found very great advantages resulting 
 from it, I do the more earnestly recommend a similar 
 course to other Christians, and especially to my 
 brethren in the ministry." 
 
 The right improvement of time is a subject of im- 
 mense importance to all mankind, but especially to 
 the minister of the gospel. Never should he procras- 
 tinate, or leave till to-morrow what present duty re- 
 quires him to execute. It is recorded of the Roman 
 Titus, that he every evening called himself to account 
 for the transactions of the day; and if it appeared 
 that he had passed a day without doing some good, he 
 was accustomed to exclaim — " Perdidi diem !" I have 
 lost a day. If such was the declaration of a heathen, 
 what shall that Christian say, whose time is more 
 than wasted, in the eager pursuit of the pleasures 
 and applause of this world ! It was a wise as well 
 as sacred rule among the Pythagoreans, that they 
 should thrice every evening, recount and examine 
 the events of the day; nor should the Christian, and 
 especially the Christian minister, be less attentive to 
 the responsibilities of life, since for every hour we 
 must all render an account unto God. 
 
 •' Nor let soft slmnbcr close your eyes 
 Before you've recollected thrice, 
 The train of actions through the day : 
 Where have my feet chose out their way ? 
 What have I learn'd, where e'er I've been. 
 From all I've heard, from all I've seen ? 
 11
 
 322 LETTER TO E. II. ESQ. 
 
 What know I more t!iat"s worth the knowing .' 
 What have I done that's worth the douig ? 
 What have I sought that I shonld shun I 
 What duty have I left undone ? 
 Or into what new follies run ? 
 These self-inquiries are the road, 
 That leads to virtue and to God. 
 
 Letter to E. H*****, Esq. 
 
 '^ New-York, January 27, ISOf^. 
 
 " MY DEAR t^IR, 
 
 " Yesterday I was informed you were again visited 
 with sickness, and to-day N**** gave me a call, and 
 confirmed the report. Although unwell myself, old 
 friendship demands a few lines. 
 
 " And now, what shall I say ? — that all the deal- 
 ings of God with you are in love, and intended 
 to do you good ? You have been so n^iany years a 
 subject of God's care — you have seen so many in- 
 stances of his grace and faithfulness to others — and 
 you have so often felt the virtue of Christ through his 
 promises, that I think you must be tolerably grounded 
 upon the doctrine of the unchangeablcness of your 
 everlasting Father. I do not, however, expect you 
 are quite out of the reach of temptation, much less 
 do I think your heart has lost all its hardness or its 
 unbelief. Indeed, I know and feel all this for myself, 
 and I expect it is the same with you. All wc have 
 to do is, to pray for the continued influence of the 
 Holy Spirit to anoint, and give us power to look to 
 Jesus — make us feel the sweets of his dying love, 
 and to seal us unto the heavenly inheritance. Let 
 us remember that God has been kind in sparing 
 our lives so long ; having seen so many of our old 
 acquaintances go before us. O for the power of hi" 
 love to rest upon, and help us to make a good finish ! 
 That our sun may not set in a cloud, nor our lips 
 forbear to leave a happy testimony for the encou-
 
 OUT OF WEAKNESS HE WAS MADE STRONG. 123 
 
 ragcment of others, and for the glory of the Lord. 
 The tinio of dissolution must conic. For myself, I 
 iiavc not the shadow of a choice, ichcn, how, nor ichere. 
 I leave it to the Lord. If my Saviour smiles upon 
 me, I know I shall smile upon death. Is not Jesus 
 infinitely wise? Has he not died for us ? Why not 
 then trust him to order all for tlie hest ? 
 
 • I welcome all thy sovereign will, 
 For all that will is love ; 
 And when I know not what thou dost, 
 I wait the light above.' 
 
 " Your's in gospel love, 
 
 •JOHN STANFORD. 
 
 About the commencement of April, Mr. Stanford 
 was seized with a severe affection of the lungs, which 
 induced him to hesitate about preaching the three 
 allotted sermons, and to administer the Lord's supper, 
 on the following Sabbath. Nevertheless he ventured 
 to proceed in the strength of the Lord; and in the 
 evening he was much relieved, and remarked to a 
 friend: — "-It is best to go on, whether the road be 
 rough or smooth." 
 
 Of Mr. Stanford it may unhesitatingly be affirmed, 
 that upon earth he sought not for repose. lie had 
 adopted, as his own, the sentiment — 
 
 " Life is the scene of combat, not of rest, 
 Plan's is laborious happiness at best; 
 On this side death his labours never cease, 
 His joys are joys of conquest, not of peace." 
 
 In the month of June he attended the Warwick 
 Association, to whom, by appointment, he preached 
 the introductory discourse, from 1 Corinthians xv. 58 
 — " Therefore, mi/ beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, un- 
 Vioveahle, alwai/s ahowuUng in the work of the Lord,
 
 124 MINISTERIAL QUALIFICATIONS. 
 
 forasmuch as ye knoic that your labour is not in vain in 
 the Lord.'' ^ Referring to this meeting, he observes: 
 " If seasons of Christian fellowship upon earth are so 
 sweet, O what will be the communion of saints in 
 heaven !" Aj)pended to the notes of the sermon used 
 on this occasion, there are the following important 
 remarks, worthy the attention of every clerical reader : 
 " O how ought the man who undertakes to preach 
 the gospel to others, himself to be dcej>ly impressed 
 with the awful reality of the subject! He should go 
 forth from the presence of the Lord, feeling the weight 
 of the divine messages of truth, possessed of an ardent 
 zeal for the salvation of sinners, and the increase of 
 the visible church of Christ, and at the same time be 
 very conscious of his own extreme unworthiness and 
 responsibility to God." 
 
 In August he took his annual journey to the south- 
 ward, and visited Burlington, where he j)reached four 
 times, and enjoyed much satisfaction in once more 
 meeting his old friends. From thence lie rode to 
 Philadelphia, and preached on the evening of the 24th, 
 to a numerous congregation, in the Independent 
 tabernacle, at that time the largest and most com- 
 modious place of worship in the city. Several larger 
 and equally elegant buildings have since been erected 
 for the accoininodation of different denominations, 
 especially the Circular Baptist meeting-house, in 
 Sansom-street, which is ninety feet diameter, and 
 will contain upwards of three thousand persons. 
 During this visit Mr. Stanford preached to the church 
 in Southwark, and in the absence of their j)astor, re- 
 ceived seven jjcrsons into their fellowship by i)rayer 
 and the laying on of hands, which is still the practice 
 of the churches in the Philadelphia Association. 31r. 
 Stanford also visited and preached to the churches in 
 Holmesburg, Southam|)ton, Lower-Dublin, and Tren- 
 ton; after which he returned to this city; not to rest, 
 but to labour.
 
 GRATUITOUS DISTRIBUTION OF TRACTS. 125 
 
 October 20, being his birth-day, was spent ia 
 hiuniliation, prayer, and thanksgiving; renewing the 
 dedication of himself to the will and service of that 
 good and gracious Cod, who had crowned his life 
 with tender mercies. 
 
 In the month of November, several ministers in the 
 city agreed to establish a monthly lecture, to be 
 preached alternately in their different places of wor- 
 ship, as a means of promoting brotherly union and 
 affection. Mr. Stanford was requested to deliver the 
 first discourse, which he did in the presence of a large 
 audience, from Psalm cxxxiii. This interesting 
 monthly service continued for several years, not un- 
 accompanied with the blessing of heaven. 
 
 The last evening of this year he delivered a dis- 
 course in the Moravian church, entitled "The Close 
 of the Year, an Emblem of the Death and Burial of an 
 old Friend," from 2 Corinthians v. 17 — '■^Ohl things 
 are passed away.^'' 
 
 This year was rendered memorable in the life of 
 Mr. Stanford, by the re-publication of an evangelical 
 tract, entitled " The Way of Salvation;" of which, 
 by the aid of a few benevolent gentlemen, he was en- 
 abled to publish, and gratuitously to distribute, chiefly 
 with his own hand, another edition, consisting of five 
 thousand copies.. 
 
 If to stand foremost in the ranks of those who go 
 about doing good, be indeed an honour, then to Mr. 
 Stanford docs that honour belong in no ordinary de- 
 gree. The following communications will show that 
 he was probably the first person in New-York, if not 
 in America, who made a systematic effort for the 
 publication and circulation of religious tracts. In 
 this important department, it will appear from the 
 subsequent pages, that he continued to labour with 
 great acceptance until near the close of his useful 
 life. 
 
 IX*
 
 126 LETTER TO REV. WILLIAM HALLOCK. 
 
 The following communications upon this subject, 
 are inserted in this place without reference to date. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, 
 
 "Agreeably to your request, I send you the follow- 
 ing statement of the origin of tracts in this city. In 
 the year 1794, impressed with the utility of such 
 paper messengers to the ignorant and the miserable, 
 I sought the guidance of the Lord, and was assisted 
 to compose a tract of eight pages, on ' The IVay of 
 SalvationJ' I know not, that any Tract Society ex- 
 isted at that time in America, nor that in any private 
 way such papers had been distributed in this city by 
 any person before. One thousand copies of this tract 
 were printed at the joint expense of three private 
 friends and myself, and by us distributed gratuitously. 
 It is believed the Lord blessed this first eftbrt to 
 many. 
 
 " Shortly after this time (the exact date I did not 
 record,) the Rev. Mr. Peters, of the Moravian Church, 
 three private friends, and myself, associated ourselves 
 for the purpose of forming a society for promoting 
 Christian knowledge and piety among the poor and 
 lower classes of society, by making and distributing 
 tracts, (fcc; and it was likewise hoped, we should be 
 able to procure Testaments for the same purpose. 
 The plan was formed — all the ministers in the city, 
 with otlicr pious persons, were invited to co-operate, 
 and the work for a short time went on prosperously ; 
 but circumstances soon occured which quashed the 
 whole, and the Tract and Bible Society were left for 
 other hands to form at a future period. 
 
 " During the last war I published and distributed 
 two small tracts at n)y own expense; one on ' Pro^ 
 fane Swearing f the other, on ' The hnportanee of 
 Social Vrayer, during the Calamitij of War.'' Both 
 these were afterwards copied into several of the 
 public papers,
 
 LETTER TO C. G. S. 127 
 
 " Oil the establishment of peace, I pubhshed a 
 tract on ' The Lord's Dai/.' By the hberal aid of 
 a few friends, five thousand copies of this tract were 
 printed for *jratiiitous distribution. 
 
 " 1 am, dear Sir, 
 
 " Your's respectfully, 
 
 " JOHN STANFORD. 
 " To the Rev. William Hallod:" 
 
 " DEAR C. G. S. 
 
 " The tract I named to you, on ' The Way of Sal- 
 vation,' printed about thirty-three years ago, was 
 probably the first religious tract published in this city 
 for gratuitous distribution. Dr. Peter AVilson, Gerret 
 H. Van Wagenen, Henry Ten Broek, and others, 
 aided the press; and since that time five thousand 
 copies have been printed. 
 
 " 1 enclose two copies of tracts; one on * The 
 Lord's Dai/,' which, at the time, was well received, 
 and a poetic commendation of it was published in 
 the city newspaper by some unknown hand. The 
 other, on ' Frofane Sicearing,' difi'ers from the tract 
 in circulation, called ' The Siocarer's Prayer.' 3Iinc 
 was intended to find its way among the higher classes 
 of society. 
 
 " ' The Directory to the Holy Scriptures,' for the 
 use of prisoners, cost me much labour, and was pub- 
 lished chielly at my own expense. One of the same 
 description, for the use of hos{)itals and alms-houses, 
 might do good. 1 have commenced one of the kind, 
 for seamen, but it is not yet finished. 
 
 " I have thought of two tracts, for which I have 
 prei>ared some materials, viz. — ' The Lord of the Sab- 
 hath Day,' and ' The Sclf-Dcslroycr.' Perhaps, if the 
 Lord should helj^, I may put them together, and send 
 them to your hand some time hence. 
 
 " 1 am now finishing a piece on a subject which 
 probably never entered into any other persons head*
 
 128 SUB3IISSI0N TO THE DIVINE WILL. 
 
 It is — ' Dozing before Sleep, exemplifying the lingering 
 Death of ManJ' This would do for a tract, but I can- 
 not spare it, as it is intended to occupy a place in my 
 ' Aged Cliristian''s Cabinet.^ 
 
 " This is a rough copy of a letter for you; but the 
 truth is, I must send it, rough as it is — I have not 
 time to transcribe it, for I must go to Bridewell. 
 
 " Afiectionately your's, 
 
 "JOHN STANFORD." 
 
 *' January 1st. This is the Lord's day ! Another 
 year has commenced. What events, duties, or trials 
 may await me, 1 leave with my gracious Lord. May 
 the duty and privilege of walking with God be mine, 
 then let me welcome whatever may be allotted." 
 Such were the sentiments with which Mr. Stanford 
 commenced the year 1809. If God would only grant 
 him a submissive spirit, that under all circumstances 
 he might be resigned to the divine will, then, in the 
 absence of applause, ease, or worldly interest, he 
 seems to have been under no particular concern about 
 the future. O how enviable is this child-like disposi- 
 tion ; and no man can be more truly safe, than he 
 who is willing to give up all for Christ's sake. True 
 indeed, it is not the duty of any man to sell all that 
 he has, and give it to the poor, because the Saviour 
 commanded the young nobleman to do so; any more 
 than he is under obligation to sacrifice his son, be- 
 cause God commanded Abraham to do so; and yet 
 these were written for our instruction, that, as the 
 creatures of God, we might be prepared, at any mo- 
 ment, to obey the severest calls of Providence. From 
 the habitual resignation of his mind, we are left to 
 infer, that this was a subject, in the experimental 
 knowledge of which, Mr. Stanford had made great 
 attainments. 
 
 The first Sabbath in February was his regular sea- 
 son for preaching to the inmates of the State-Prison ;
 
 THR FACETIOUS DUTCHMAN. 129 
 
 but his health ami animal spirits were extremely de- 
 pressed, and a severe storm of snow, hail, and rain, 
 accompanied with high winds diirini^ the night, gave 
 him but little expectation of being aljle to fulfil his 
 engagement. At an early hour in the morning, the 
 snow covered the ground to the de|)th of nearly twelve 
 inches, and he had no means of conveyance.* " Never- 
 theless," he remarks, " in the fear of the I^ord, I 
 commenced my walk, and with much difficulty tra- 
 velled about half a mile. In endeavouring to gain a 
 better path, I suddenly fell into a (lee|) drain, which 
 was covered with snow, and sunk nearly to my hips. 
 It was not without considerable dilliculty 1 was ex- 
 tricated, and pursued my way to the Prison ; my 
 outward garments were so much frozen, that the 
 keepers were obliged to remove them. After resting 
 half an hour in a warm rootn, I ventured into the 
 chapel, and performed divine worship with some gra- 
 cious assistance. Often has this day's service oc- 
 curred to my recollection, and as often excited my 
 gratitude to the Lord for his kind preservation." 
 
 After the services in the chapel were ended, and 
 he was passing through the middle hall, to visit the 
 sick prisoners in the hospital, Mr. llauman, who is a 
 foreigner by birth, and one of the keepers, stood at 
 the back door with the key in his hand, and pleasantly 
 offered him a pinch of snuff. After the usual saluta- 
 tion, the following dialogue ensued : — " Sir, vot use 
 you come here to visit dis wicked people?" " I re- 
 jilied, that my heavenly Master made it my duty to 
 visit the sick, and es|)ecially those who are in prison." 
 " Den," said he, " let me ask you, vot use it be for 
 de rain to come down upon de ocean, de sea be full 
 
 * It is due to the Christian kindness of the gentlemen composing the 
 Board of commissioners of the State-Prison, I5('llevne, &c. to say, that 
 during tiie hitter years of Mr. Stanford's ciiaplaincy. he was generally 
 provided with the coaciies belonging to these public institutions to convey 
 him to and from the places where he had appointed to preach.
 
 130 ORDINAION OF REV. DA.NIEL SHARP. 
 
 enuif of vaiiter v'uloiit it." " Expressing a degree of 
 surj)rise at the intention of liis question, lie immedi- 
 ately proceeded" — " Sir, I vill tell you, dere be von 
 ship go along pon de sea, vich be vont of vauter, an 
 de sailors de be ready to die op dirst; de no trink de 
 vauter out of do ocean. By and by de see cloud, an 
 de rain begin to come down ; den de sailors spread 
 deir sail on de deck, de katch dc rain-vauter; de do 
 trink, an den de go on lifely. So you come to dese 
 poor wretches — you spread de sail — de rain of Got's 
 blessing come down, an den de drink an be glad. So, 
 Sir, I vill now open de door, an you may spread your 
 sail." " Thanking Mr. If. for his remarks, I passed 
 through, to tije hosjntal, with a design to spread my 
 sails of instruction and prayer, in the pleasing hope 
 that some mercy-drops from above might descend, to 
 refresh the souls of the poor prisoners. I have often 
 indulged pleasing reflections upon this little incident, 
 as conveying to me valuable instruction. For, as 
 the mariner can only spread the sail, it is the Lord 
 alone that can raise the wind, or give the gentle rain ; 
 so I can only spread the gospel sail of instruction, and 
 wait for drops of mercy from above, to grant the de- 
 sired blessing." 
 
 It was about this time that he commenced writing 
 his second series of lectures for the benefit of theolo- 
 gical studctits. These lectures have since been de- 
 livered, with great advantage, to successive classes ; 
 and may in due time be given to the public. 
 
 On the 17th of May, Mr. Stanford assisted at the 
 ordination of the Rev. Daniel Sharp,* at Newark, in 
 New-Jersey. The services were i)erformed in the 
 first Presbyterian church, in the presence of a large 
 and attentive audience, to whom Mr. Stanford de- 
 livered the introductory address. 
 
 * The pre.soiit iisoful and beloved pastor of the Charles-streot Baptist 
 church in Boston.
 
 A PAINFUL ACCIDENT. 131 
 
 III the month of Auiirust lie a<^ain visited 3Iourjl- 
 Pleasant, wlierc he preached nine times; after whicli 
 he rode to Peekskili and York-Town, wliere he also 
 preached to the people, the imsearciiablc riches of 
 Christ. 
 
 On the second Lord's day in September, he preached 
 four times, and administered the Ijord's siip}>er twice. 
 This extraordinary circumstance arose from the fact, 
 lijat he preached to two churches, whose conmiunion 
 Sabbath occurred on the same day. 
 
 In tiie month of November, the bone of his left leg 
 was severely injured, which partially confined him 
 during the remainder of the year, and prevented hi?< 
 preaching more than once on each Lord's day, and 
 then only by being, with great care, conveyed to the 
 place of worship in a carriage. Thus can the Lord 
 " weaken our strength in the way," and teach us 
 submission to his will. In a note upon this provi- 
 dence of God, the good man remarks — " May this 
 occurrence afford mc a lesson on the importance 
 of improving my time, and stimulate me to future 
 exertions in the service of the Lord." This visita- 
 tion, though very painful, was not without its use, as 
 it gave him greater leisure for the private, but not 
 less important duties of the closet. 
 
 On the 31st ofDccember, he has the following note 
 in his diary : — " This is the last day of the year: to 
 me, though extremely ill, and my leg very painful, 
 this is a day of many mercies. I have found the 
 cxix Psalm, 4f)th verse, peculiarly interesting to my 
 mind: ^Remember the icord vnlo lliy servant, upon 
 vhich ihuu hast caused mc to hope.'' O that I may 
 constantly rearize the faithful promises of my God, 
 and possess that faith which shall enable me to ex- 
 tract from it, encouragement and strength for duties 
 and trials in private and public life, and thus be 
 strong in faith, giving glory to God. The evening 
 was sncnt in revicwinir the many scenes and mercies
 
 132 E.SSAY ON WALKING WITH GOD. 
 
 of the past year, and attempting to consecrate my 
 body and soid to Christ Jesus ; that whatever maybe 
 my future lot, I may walk with God, until I step out 
 of time into eternity." 
 
 The opening of the year 1810, found Mr. Stanford 
 confined at home by indisposition of body, but sweetly 
 employed in meditation, prayer, and thanksgiving to 
 God ; and in endeavouring rencwedly to devote himself 
 to the Lord, and to his service in the gospel. " My 
 public labours during the last year," he remarks, 
 '* were not altogether in vain in the Lord; to him 
 therefore would I ascribe the glory, and humble my- 
 self before him in dust and ashes. May I hencefortli 
 be assisted by the Spirit of his grace to know, feel, 
 and preach the gospel, with more fruitfulness for the 
 conversion of sinners, the comfort of believers, and 
 the glory of his name." 
 
 After a confinement of two weeks, he again ven- 
 tured to ride out, and was assisted to preach twice. 
 In the afternoon he experienced so great a degree of 
 physical and mental weakness, owing to his recent 
 indisposition, that he w^as under the necessity of cur- 
 tailing his discourse. But in the evening he says: "I 
 was more favoured — such occurrences teach me how 
 much I need ])ower and jicrpctual influences from 
 abcvo. May the Lord visit my mind and heart, if 
 not With a co()ious shower of his grace and mercy, 
 yet with the gentle dew of his love, that I may bear 
 some humble fruit to the honour of his name, and the 
 benefit of his peo|)lc." 
 
 During the month of March, he finished an essay 
 on " Walking with (iod." The jirincipal design of 
 which seeu)s to have been, to stimulate his own soul 
 in the practice and enjoyment of this high and invalu- 
 able privilege. Upon this subject he remarks: " I 
 am taught, by painful experience, both to know^ and 
 feel, that it is easier for me to tralh in a profession, 
 and ivnlk to church, than to iralk sensibly and humbly
 
 SUDDKX ILLNESS. 133 
 
 \\\t\\ my God. O my hard and unfeeling- heart — often 
 may 1 read this piece, and may the Lord, by his Spirit, 
 produce the desired effect."* 
 
 On Lord's day, July 8th, he preached a discourse 
 at the opening- of a new house for worship, under the 
 ministry of the Rev. Archibald Maclay. The text 
 was Psalm cxviii. 25 — " O Lord, I beseech thee, send 
 now prosperity.''^ The congregation was very large, 
 and appearances indicated a high state of spiritual 
 and temporal prosperity. This month he finished an 
 essay on " The Abrogation of the Old Covenant, and 
 the Establishment of the Ncvvv" The investigation 
 of this subject appears to have afforded him much 
 pleasure, and his essay has since been read with great 
 profit by others* 
 
 About the latter end of the month, while on a visit 
 to a minister in the city, he was suddenly taken so 
 extremely ill, that it became necessary to convey him 
 liome in a carriage. Upon this event he remarks: 
 •' How important it is to listen to, and improve such 
 unexpected warnings. I know that my good Lord 
 sends them to arouse my sluggish heart. Be it mine, 
 
 * A similar instance of humble self-detraction, arising from an exalted 
 view of the spirituality and glory of the divine character, is recorded of 
 <':ie of Britain's most enlightened and devoted prelates. 
 
 A friend of Ar?hbishop Usher, frequently expressed a wish that he 
 would write an essay upon the subject of sanctification. With this re- 
 quest he at length promised to comply. After the lapse of several months 
 he was again importuned, and at the same time remindedof his promise. 
 The bishop replied — " I have not written, and yet I cannot charge myself 
 with a breach of promise ; for I began to write, but when I came to treat 
 of the new creature which God fornietli by his Spirit in every regenerate 
 .*oul, I found so little of it wrougiit in myself, that I could speak of it only 
 as parrots, or by rote, without the knowledge of what I might have ex- 
 pressed, and therefore I durst not proceed any further upon it." When 
 his friend expressed his surprise at hearing so eminently holy a man 
 making such a confession, the bishop went on to say — " I must tell you, 
 we do not well understand what sanctitication and the new creature are. 
 It is no less than for a man to be brought to an entire resignation of his 
 own will to the will of God, and to live in the offering up of his soul 
 continually in the flames of love, as a whole burnt-offering to Christ; 
 and O ! how many who profess Christianity are unacquainted expert- 
 nisiltallv with this great work upon their souls!'' 
 
 12
 
 134 LETTER TO CAPTAIN \V. 
 
 therefore, by his heavenly grace, to improve every 
 such visitation, knowing tliat in the midst of life I am 
 in death, and therefore need both an actual and an 
 habitual preparation for my last change." 
 
 While thus deeply exercised for the spiritual im- 
 provement of his own heart, he was not unmindful of 
 the moral Vvants of others, as will appear from the 
 following letter, addressed to Captain J. W*****, on 
 his making a profession of religion. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, 
 
 " Having obtained mercy to acknowledge the power 
 of Christ in the conversion of your soul; and having 
 in the most public manner devoted yourself to the 
 service of the Lord; the next thing is, for you so to 
 conduct before the world, that they may take know- 
 ledge of you, that you have been with Christ and 
 learned of him. I shall therefore offer you a few lines 
 of advice, sincerely wishing, that, under the benedic- 
 tion of God, they may be useful to your soul, and 
 enable you to walk worthy of God unto all well 
 pleasing. 
 
 " In order to the enjoyment of God, you must be 
 earnest in prayer. Prayer is the opening of the heart 
 to God, expressing our wants, and receiving supplies 
 from his hand. Ever depend upon the influence of 
 the Holy Spirit to direct your petitions, and upon the 
 intercession of Christ for their acceptance. The 
 more you cultivate a holy intercourse with God in 
 private, the more heavenly minded will you be in 
 public. * It is good for mcy said David, ' to draw 
 7iear to God;^ and this is true of every believer in 
 Chdist. 
 
 " Let me entreat you, my dear brother, often to 
 review the late mercy of God to you, in your conver- 
 sion; this will increase your humility and gratitude. 
 The more you reflect on your former dark and sinftd 
 state, the more humble and thankful v.ill vou bo.
 
 LETTER TO CAPTAIN W. 335 
 
 DdviJ sang, ' To him that remembered us in our ioio 
 eatate, for his mercy endnrcth for ever.'' 
 
 " Guard against tlic rising of your old sins. Re- 
 member th'jy are neither dead nor destroyed, and 
 may at some time or other arise in your heart, and 
 strive to break forth in your hfe. Tiie old body of sin 
 dies very hard ; it will bear more blows and wounds 
 than young professors are aware of. Therefore, on 
 the appearance of any of your old passions, fly to God 
 by prayer, and beg for his grace, which alone is 
 sufficient, and that sin may not have dominion over 
 you. 
 
 *' As God hath mercifully owned you by his grace, 
 I earnestly recommend you to erect an altar for God 
 in your family. Family prayer is a duty, and a very 
 great privilege, especially when performed with an 
 humble and believing heart. David strove to walk 
 within his house with a perfect heart — Jacob taught 
 his household, and commanded his children. And 
 the most high God hath said, that ' He uill pour out 
 his fury on the families that call not upon his name.'' 
 May you, my brother, in attending upon this duty, 
 enjoy the richest blessings of God upon your own 
 soul, and in the conversion of every member of your 
 dear family. 
 
 " With respect to your outward profession and 
 conduct before the world, you will need the greatest 
 circumspection. I have not a doubt but that many of 
 your old companions in sin, will watch your steps, and 
 await your halting, that they may triumph over you, 
 and reproach religion. Remember, that one improper 
 word, or one false step, may be magnified into a great 
 crime ; therefore, watch and j)ray, that you enter not 
 into teinj)tation. I know that from your former con- 
 nexions, and your present standing, you need more 
 than ordinary vigilance. I must recommend you to 
 cherish an affable disposition of mind, that no one 
 may be induced to charge your i)rofcssion with mclan-
 
 136 TRACT ON THE LORO'ti DAY. 
 
 choly. Who ought to be more innocently cheerfLii, 
 than those who are redeemed by Clirist, and have a 
 hope of eternal bliss? If, at any time, your old inti- 
 mates converse with you on your change of life, let 
 your answers be firm, but chastened by humility and 
 gratitude; and forget not to honour the grace which 
 hath produced it. Some may probably try to irritate 
 your temper, but I hope you uill be upon your guard. 
 Like David, ' Set the Lord alicaj/ before 1/02/, he in'll be 
 at your right hand, and you shall not be moved.'' He 
 who hath taken you out of the miry clay, and set 
 your feet upon a rock, will most certainly establish 
 your goings. 
 
 " Like the king of Israel, you may derive strong 
 encouragement to trust for future supplies. ' Thy 
 vows are upon me, O God, for thou hast delivered my 
 sold from death : nilt thou not deliver ?ny feet from fall- 
 ing, that I may walk before God in the light of the 
 living?^ Thus may God help you to enjoy the com- 
 forts and the honour of religion. Deeply impressed 
 "with a sense of the divine presence, may you ever 
 keep your garments unspotted from the world, and 
 let your light shine before men. Live upon Christ, 
 and the brightness of his glory shall be your portion 
 for ever. 
 
 *' Your affectionate friend, 
 
 " JOHN STANFORD. 
 '' July 24.tli, 1810." 
 
 On the IGth of December, Mr. Stanford finished a 
 tract on " The Observance of tlie Lord's Day," one 
 thousand copies of which were afterwards i)rinted for 
 gratuitous distribution. The flagrant profanation of 
 the holy Sabbath in this city, at the time when this 
 tract made its appearance, stajnped it with an im- 
 portance, the amount of which it would be difficult to 
 compute. 15y all who lamented the desecration of 
 the day of rest, it was welcomed, as the warning voicu
 
 HISTORY OF J. II. 137 
 
 of God totlieening multitude; audit is believed that 
 tliis opportune production exerted a salutary and re- 
 strainini*- iulluence over the minds ot" many. 
 
 Mr. Stanford continued his assiduous labours for 
 the moral improvement of the unhappy inmates of the 
 State-Prison, and generally visited the sick in the 
 j)rison hospital on Wednesday afternoon of each 
 week. These services were eminently blessed of the 
 Lord to the conversion of souls. 
 
 This proposition will receive further elucidation 
 from the history of J II . 
 
 " This young person," says Mr. Stanford, " was 
 very ill of the typhus fever, and little expectation was 
 entertained of his recovery. He was sensible of his 
 situation, and with much anguish lamented the errors 
 of his life. The recollection of his pious parents, 
 who doated upon him, added keenness to his sorrow. 
 I endeavoured to impress his mind with a sense of his 
 depravity and guilt, in the sight of his offended God; 
 and at the same time explained to him the necessity 
 of an interest in the atoning sacrifice and intercession 
 of the Lord Jesus. He sighed, and expressed great 
 api)rehension that his case was too desperate to 
 admit of relief. At his request I prayed for him. 
 • Oh,' said he, ' I wish 1 had read my Bible; my 
 conscience accuses me, and I am more wretched 
 in mind than in body. Oh! how have 1 neglected to 
 profit by my early education, and how distracted 
 would my parents be if they knew I was about to die 
 in my sins!' 1 directed him to Jesus, the friend of 
 sinners, who is able to save both body and soul. 
 He replied, ' I know that Christ is ' the icay, the 
 truth, and the life;'' but then he is not such to me, 
 and I fear he never will be my Saviour.' This gave 
 me the opportunity of further explaining to him the 
 tender mercy and compassion of the blessed Jesus, and 
 I assured him that there never had been an instance, 
 or ever would be, that Christ would in any wise cast 
 
 12*
 
 138 HISTORY OF J. H. 
 
 out the penitent sinner who came unto him. I further 
 instructed him concerning the office of the Holy Spirit, 
 to give him faith, and abihty to come to Jesus for 
 the enjoyment of pardon and peace; and that this 
 work of the Spirit was as necessary to be produced in 
 him, as the work of Christ was, to atone for our sins. 
 To encourage his prayer for this blessing, I assured 
 him that God had promised to give his Spirit to them 
 that ask him. ' Then,' said he, ' I will pray for the 
 Holy Spirit, and I hope you will also pray for me.' 
 
 " Lord's day, December 2-3d. After morning ser- 
 vice in the chapel, this young person sent for me in 
 haste. On entering his room he said, ' O, Sir, the 
 physician has informed me that, at most, I cannot live 
 more than two or three days. This I received as my 
 death warrant ; the shock however continued but a 
 short time. God has visited me in mercy, and I really 
 feel in my heart, that peace, through the blood of my 
 Saviour, which I would not exchange for all the gold 
 in the world ! I now want to tell you a little of my 
 short life. 
 
 " 3Iy parents are pious, and possess a great deal of 
 property. I am their only son, and they brought me 
 up religiously, and gave me a good education. When 
 I was about twenty, they set me up in business, and 
 I was foolish enough to take a man as a partner, who 
 deceived me, and wasted my property. I was afraid 
 to tell my parents, and at a trying moment, 1 com- 
 mitted that oftence which brouglit me to this i)lace of 
 misery.' After weeping abundantly, he then pro- 
 ceeded: * At the sad time of my sentence, my mother 
 came to see me. The sight of my misery overcame 
 her — she fainted and fell upon my chains. Under 
 the recollection of these troubles, if 1 die, do let my 
 parents know tliat I ask their forgivcncs, and that 1 
 depart from this world in possession of pardon and 
 peace in my blessed Saviour. The fear of death is 
 gone; his terrors do not make me afraid.' Percciv-
 
 HISTORY OF J. n. 139 
 
 ing this exertion too much for him, I offered prayer 
 and retired, not expecting to sec him again in this 
 vale of tears. 
 
 " December 26th. Inquiring if J II was 
 
 dead, was happy in being informed that his fever, 
 contrary to all expectation, had taken a favourable 
 turn, lie stretched out his hand for me to embrace 
 it. ' I feel,' said he, ' like a new man in a new 
 world; I attribute this relief to God only, for the 
 physicians had given me over. O that my life may 
 be devoted to my Saviour! When my dear parents 
 hear of this, it will be a balm to their troubled hearts. 
 I am now almost covered with sores, so that 1 can 
 hardly turn in my bed: but O! what arc these when 
 compared to my sins, and to the great mercy of my 
 God. Now, Sir, let mc once more thank you for 
 your attention to me, and do once more pray for mc 
 and my parents.' 
 
 " The health of this young man was iiap{)ily re- 
 stored. 1 afterwards conversed with him frequently, 
 and he maintained a lively hope in the Lord Jesus. 
 His conduct was so exemplary, that in a few months 
 he received his pardon, and returned to the embraces 
 of his affectionate parents."
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MR. STANFORD INVITED TO SETTLE IN S.WANNAII VISITS 
 
 THE STATE-PRISONS IN NEW-JERSEY AND PENNSYLVANIA, 
 BY SPECIAL REQUEST OF TUE COMMON COUNCIL HE RE- 
 CEIVES AN APPOINTMENT AS CHAPLAIN TO THE PUBLIC 
 
 INSTITUTIONS IN NEW-YORK RELINQUISHES ALL HIS 
 
 PREVIOUS ENGAGEMENTS. 
 
 Wii'H the commencement of tlie year 1811, Mr. 
 Stanford, as had long been his practice, made a special 
 request of the liOrd, to grant him some particular text 
 of Scripture to direct and animate him through the 
 year. Upon this subject he remarks: " The word of 
 the Lord, impressed uj^on my mind as a directory for 
 this new year, is Psalm Ixxi. 16 — ' / uill go in the 
 strength of the Lord God: I icill make mention of thy 
 righteousness, even of thine only.^ And, in what 
 strength else can I go in the midst of temptations 
 and sorrows, but in that of the Lord my God; and 
 what else shall be the subject of my preaching, but 
 the righteousness of God by faith in Christ Jesus the 
 Lord.^ In his strength therefore may I persevere, 
 and in his righteousness may I be found living, 
 preaching, dying, and at the judgment seat of the 
 Lord Jesus." 
 
 Like the pious Dr. Young, he could say, Christ is 
 
 " ]\Iy thcnic, my insjiinition, and my crown, 
 ]\Iy slrcngtli in age — my life in low estate — 
 My soul's ambition — ploasiuc — wealth — my world — 
 My light in darkness — life in death — 
 My boast in time — bliss through eternity — 
 My sacrifice — my (jod !" 
 
 On the first Sabbath ho preached twice in the State- 
 Prison chapel, after which he visited a dying female
 
 DIVINITY STUDENTS. ' 141 
 
 prisoner, and lial about twenty of her forlorn asso- 
 ciates assembled in the ward. The sick womaii ap- 
 peared very sensible of her miserable slate, and her 
 need of an Almighty Saviour. After directing hei to 
 Jesus, the Lamb of God, he addressed the company 
 present with good eftect, and closed the visit with 
 prayer. 
 
 On the 8lh of January, Mr. Stanford received a 
 class of eight divinity students, of whom he says: — 
 " I pray the Lord to make me useful in directing 
 their minds into the greater knowledge, harmony, 
 connection, and application of divine truth ; that 
 thereby they may become more able ministers of the 
 New Testament, and more useful to the church iind 
 the world." Of the class here alluded to, only one 
 has been cal'ed to give up his account unto God; and 
 it is gratifying to be permitted to state, that he died 
 in the work of the Christian ministry, and in the 
 triumph of faith. Three of the survivors are now 
 preaching the gospel with success in the state of New- 
 York, and the remaining members of the class arc 
 idling stations of importance in the churches cf Christ. 
 
 In the month of April, he received a message, by a 
 gentleman from the Baptist church in Savannah, 
 wishing him to come and settle with them as their 
 niinister; but impressed with a lirm persuasion tiiat 
 CJod had fixed the place of his habitation, and blessed 
 him in this city, he immediately declined the |)roposal. 
 
 In the month of August, Mr. Stanford visited 
 Pennsylvania and New-Jersey, by the particular re- 
 quest of the Common Council, for the purpose of ex- 
 amining the condition of the State-Prisons, and with 
 a view to improvements in the New- York State- 
 Prison. A similar service was performed in J 821, 
 of which a particular account may be found under 
 that date. 
 
 In company with Mr. Joseph Price, one of the in- 
 spectors, he passed through the institution in Phila-
 
 142 TRACT ON PROTANE SWEARING. 
 
 delphia, aiul made notes on the construction of the 
 building, the government of the prison, the articles 
 manufactured, and sucli other subjects as appeared 
 to be worth}' of particular notice. On his way home, 
 he spent a day at Trenton ; and in company with his 
 old friend, his Excellency Governor Bloomfield, he 
 visited the State-Prison of New-Jersey, for the same 
 purpose, and having satisfied himself in viewing the 
 institution, taking notes, &c. he delivered a discourse 
 to the prisoners in the afternoon, and in the evening 
 a lecture to the Baptist church at l^amberton. The 
 following evening, by request of Dr. Clarke, the 
 Presbyterian minister, he delivered a sermon in his 
 pulpit, and on the following day returned to his habi- 
 tation in peace. Thus did he once more exjjerience 
 the fulfilment of that gracious promise — " The Lord 
 is thy keeper : the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. 
 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming 
 in from this tivie forth, and even for evermore.''^ Psalm 
 cxxi. 5, 8. 
 
 In the month of October, Mr. Stanford wrote an 
 able dissertation, on " The Laying on of Hands," 
 but, as it was never published, it would seem that the 
 chief design of this composition, was, to furnish his 
 own mind with what tlie scri|)tures say on the subject. 
 About the same time he published his excellent tract 
 on " Profane Swearing ;" a large edition of which 
 was gratuitously distributed among the lower class of 
 the communily. 
 
 The subjoined letter to Dr. II*****, \s another 
 evidence of his zeal for the salvation of men. 
 
 " DEAR i\. II. 
 
 " 1 regret, that at picsent, my engagements arc 
 such as to prevent my making you freipient visits. 
 Notwithstanding, you are remembered in my prayers, 
 that it may please God to bless the means emj^loycd 
 for your recover}, or, if he has otherwise determined,
 
 LETTER TO DR. 11. 143 
 
 that you may enjoy adequate support and consolation. 
 The love of life is natural to all ; but, in the bloom of 
 years, and surrounded by the brightest earthly pros- 
 pects, the desire proportionably increases. When, 
 therefore, sickness or afflictions overcast our sky, it 
 cannot but produce very painful emotions. 1 know 
 of but one ade(iuate remedy for this case. It is, a 
 cheerful resignation to the divine will, from a per- 
 suasion that he pardoneth our sins, and that he de- 
 signethour present and future benefit; or, if you wish 
 the recipe in other language, you have it in Psalm 
 xlviii. 14. 
 
 " A quack doctor may make up a prescription pre- 
 sented to his hand, without knowing the properties of 
 the drugs, or the nature of the disease, which the 
 medicine is intended to cure ; but, a well educated 
 physician, will endeavour to understand both, in ordcv 
 to secure his success. You will, I sup[)ose, admit, 
 that there are quacks both in the profession of medi- 
 cine and in divinity. I am only the Physician's ser- 
 vant ; lest, therefore, you should think nae a quack, 
 I must describe to you the component parts of my 
 prescription. It consists, 
 
 " 1st. In a persuasion that God pardoneth our sins. 
 This pardon is the principal ingredient, because sin 
 is our mortal disease. If we analize this, we shall 
 find that li contains J us/ ice, 7nerc^, •andlove. Koi pro- 
 duced by the abstract benevolence of the Deity, but 
 found only on the hill of Calvary, througii the suffer- 
 ings and death of the Son of God. The sovereign 
 efficacy of this arises from the appointment of God — 
 its perfect correspondence with the re(|iiiromentNS of 
 liie law which we have violated, and its ada|)tation to 
 our wretched condition as sinners. ISow, there is no 
 other book but the Bible, which reveals this remedy; 
 and the greatest care ought to be taUen to explain 
 its nature, because the life of tlie patient absolutely 
 depends upon it; and, however valuable and eftica-
 
 i44 LETTER TO DR. If. 
 
 cions in itself, tlie patient has the most astonishing 
 aversion to it, until he is convinced he must surely 
 die. 
 
 " Does not my reason tell me, that I must bear 
 the punishment due to my own sins, or, that I must 
 he indebted to the mediation of another ? Certainly ; 
 even if there were no Bible, common sense would 
 teach me this lesson. 
 
 " 2d. The next ingredient is, * A cheerful resigna- 
 tion to the divine will.' This will most charmingly 
 incorporate with the former drug, if I may so say, 
 but, without it, it will have no effect: for t must first 
 know that God forgivcth my sins, before I can with 
 cheerfulness resign myself to his will. But, if I am 
 persuaded of this, I may say, ' This God is my God, 
 for ever and ever ; and he shall he my guide, even unto 
 death.'' In prosperity or adversity, in sickness or in 
 health, my temper, conduct, whole life, shall be 
 directed to the honour of my God and Guide. 
 
 " JNow we take the last, which sweetens all the 
 rest — A full persuasion that ' lie designs my present 
 and future felicity.' All things shall work together 
 like the different drugs in a medicine, administered 
 by the great Physician, for my good— to save my soul 
 — comfort me in sorrov/ — preserve me from evil' — 
 suj)|)o>t me in death, and bring me to immortality and 
 glo^y ! Such is the comfort whicli the gospel reveals ; 
 and my prayer to God for you is, that you may 
 abundantly enjoy it. 
 
 " A\'cll, 1 have got to the end of my paper, and yet, 
 you know something more is necessary. You always 
 |)ut a labi;l upon the ])hial to direct the patient how 
 to take the contents ; but as for me, I am only the 
 poor servant of the great Physician, yet 1 will pray 
 my divine Master to make you a visit, and administer 
 lo you the cordial of salvation. 
 
 " Sincerely your's, 
 
 '• J01L\ 'i^TANTORD. 
 
 "' March Slh, 1811."
 
 Interesting incident. 145 
 
 On the first Lord's day in November, a pestilential 
 fever made its appearance in the .State-I'rison, which 
 rendered it necessary to convert the cliapel into a 
 hospital. In consecpience of this arrangement, Mr. 
 Stanford consented to preach in hall No. 5, at a con- 
 siderable distance from the seat of the contagion; 
 but his visits among the sick and dying in the hos- 
 pital, were unremitted and faithful. 
 
 Like the praiseworthy Howard, to whose magnanim- 
 ous philanthropy we have before alluded, our indefati- 
 gable Stanford did literally relinrpiish his own ease, to 
 visit the abode of the wretched who were destitute, 
 and '* hound with fetters of iron.''- Few of those who 
 have adorned the Christian Church in any age, have 
 been more willing to expose themselves to danger, 
 that they might free others from it, or to enter the 
 gloomy cell, that they might inspire a ray of hope im- 
 mortal in the breast of the disconsolate captive. He 
 lived and died in the noble cause of Christian bene- 
 volence ; and though no sculptured monument will 
 convey to posterity the history of his disinterested 
 and pious labours, yet his memory is embalmed in 
 the grateful hearts of those for whom he toiled; and 
 his imperishable fame will survive the wreck of every 
 mausoleum, save that, where works of righteousness 
 are had in everlasting remembrance. 
 
 About this time, Mr. Stanford, meeting with Mr. 
 E. J. W******, in Wall-street, who, judging from 
 the thread-bare appearance of his garments, that a 
 new suit would be acceptable, invited Mr. S. to step 
 into a merchant tailor's shop opposite. After they 
 entered, Mr. VV. remarked to the tailor that he had 
 called for the purpose of requesting him to decide 
 a point upon which there was some doubt, viz.— 
 who was the largest man, Mr. Stanford or himself. 
 They were accordingly measured, and nothing more 
 was said upon the subject. The following week a new 
 suit of clothes was brought to Mr. S. accompanied 
 
 13
 
 146 LETTER TO MR. E. J. W. 
 
 with an anonymous note, requesting his acceptance of 
 them. When relating this circumstance to the writer, 
 he remarked, with his usual |)leasantry, " Well, what 
 could I do but pocket the aftront I" 
 
 Letter to Mr. E. J. W****** 
 
 " iMY DEAR SIR, 
 
 " In some measure I can say with Dr. Blair, that 
 ' Gratitude is one of the sweetest emotions of the hu- 
 man soul.' And the word of God declares, that they 
 who are unthankful are unholy. Allow me, therefore, 
 to present to you my very affectionate thanks for your 
 valuable and generous donation. Most sincerely do 1 
 desire that God, in the unbounded riches of his grace, 
 may clothe you with those vestments in which his 
 people are arrayed, and with them may you appear 
 at the throne of mercy, and eventually be exalted 
 to the throne of glory. What these garments are, 
 you are informed in Isaiah Ixi. 10. As sinful crea- 
 tures we have lost our moral robe; we cannot appear 
 before the throne of God without shame and punish- 
 ment ; and, although our first parents, conscious of 
 their guilt, covered themselves with fig leaves to con- 
 ceal their transgression, yet the eye of God discovered 
 and brought them to confession. Thus docs every 
 child of Adam endeavour, in his approach unto God, 
 to clothe himself in his own righteousness. Nor shall 
 we be undeceived, until God addresses us in language 
 similar to that in which he spake to Adam — ' Simier, 
 where art iliouT Then shall we know that our souls 
 are naked, and seek for refuge beneath the cross of 
 Christ. The Lord, in mercy, I hope, has thus dis- 
 covered to us our sinful deformity, and tiuit our own 
 righteousness is as filthy rags. Thanksgiving and 
 praise be unto the Lord, that, in his wardrobe we 
 find a complete suit of garments, arrayed in which, 
 we may approach unto God with confidence at the
 
 LETTER TO MR. E. J. W. 147 
 
 throne of grace, and eventually be accepted at the 
 throne of judgment. 
 
 " These garments, Isaiah describes; and in the 
 language of Paul, wearing them is denominated a 
 ' putting' on the Lord Jesus Christ,'' whom Jeremiah 
 triumphantly proclaims, ' The Lord our Righteousness.'' 
 I will therefore take the words of Isaiah, and from 
 what little I know of these sacred garments, offer 
 you a short description ; and, at the same time, add 
 my fervent prayer, that you and your's may know 
 them better by liappy possession. 
 
 ** If you cast your eye upon the words, you will 
 perceive that there are two garments provided, and 
 that they are ornamented with jewels. These garments 
 are adapted to a marriage, and with these the Church 
 is adorned; and we are certain that the possession of 
 them will never fail to create joy and rejoicing in the 
 hearts of all who receive them. The garments, I 
 said, are two: the first is an inward, and the other is 
 an outward robe, which covers the whole. The first 
 is called Hhe garments of salvation,'' and comes near- 
 est to the heart. This was made by the sacrifice of 
 Jesus Christ upon the cross : — ' We have redemption 
 through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins ;^ without 
 this, we could have no hope of salvation. The outer 
 robe is called ' the robe of righteousness,' and is com- 
 posed of the meritorious obedience of the Son of 
 God. This was so pure and spotless, that it is called 
 * the righteousness of God, tchieh is unto all, ami upon all 
 them that believe.' It is, indeed, the best robe which 
 the Father can give, or the returning prodigal receive. 
 
 " The chief desire of Paul, when he was an old 
 man, was this: — That he might ' be found in him, not 
 having mine own righteousness, tchieh is of the laiv, but 
 that which is through the faith (f Christ.' These 
 constitute the basis of our hope! If they could be 
 taken away, we must for ever perish, beneath the 
 frowns of divine justice.
 
 148 LETTER TO MR. E. J. W. 
 
 " It is worthy of attention, that the same God who 
 in mercy provides these garments, must put them 
 upon us, for by nature we are attached to our filthy 
 garments of the flesh, and are at enmity against tiie 
 free and fall salvation and righteousness which is in 
 Christ. Therefore Isaiah says, ^ lie hath clothed me." 
 The same God who provides the garments, I said, 
 puts them upon us, or we should remain unclothed 
 for ever. This makes salvation, from first to last, to 
 be of free mercy and grace, and enables us to say, 
 ' Christ is all and in all J' 
 
 " These garments are highly ornamental. They 
 are beautified with the brilliant graces of the Holy 
 Spirit, so that the possessors, by their temper, life, 
 profession, experience, and general conduct, adorn 
 the doctrine of God their Saviour in all things. 
 There are some who seem to possess the gift of 
 many spiritual jewels, by which they become highly 
 useful in the world, and in the Church. In life, such 
 Christians contribute much to the moral benefit of 
 their fellow-creatures, and materially promote the 
 cause of Christ, by their humility, benevolence, for- 
 bearance, patience, and love. Concerning these gar- 
 ments, I may safely say, they will never wear out ; 
 and the jewels themselves, though sometimes a little 
 of the dust of worldly-mindedness may conceal their 
 beauty for a time, yet their intrinsic excellence will 
 ever remain; and God is not wanting in means, by 
 the brush of affliction, to make them sparkle again. 
 
 *' Isaiah seems desirous to impress upon our minds, 
 that this exquisitely rich dress, is a wedding dress. 
 The bridegroom is Christ, his bride is the Church ; 
 and, as according to the ceremony of Jewish mar- 
 riages, there was first a betrothment ; so also when 
 the Father chose his people, and gave them to 
 his Son, there was an espousal; after which the 
 parties are brought together ; and thus it is at our 
 conversion; which will be followed by the public
 
 HIS DESIRE TO BE USEFUL. 140 
 
 marriage that is to take jjlacc at the first resurrection. 
 At that august scene, in the language of David, 
 ' the king^s daughter is all glorious ivithin : her clothing 
 is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the king 
 in raiment of needlework.'' Psalm xlv. Or, according 
 to Paul, ' lie loi II present it to himself a glorious Church, 
 not having spot or 7vrinklc, or any such thingJ* Ephe- 
 sians v. O that you and I may rejoice in hope of 
 the glory of God ! 
 
 " For the abundant goodness of God, in clothing 
 him with the garments of salvation, Isaiah could not 
 but say, ' / u:ill greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul 
 shall he joyful in my God:'' and shall we not join in 
 the sacred anthem? In our temper, profession, and 
 conduct, at home and abroad, let us magnify the 
 exceeding riches of divine grace,^ for what we have 
 received through Jesus Christ our ascended Lord! 
 Very great and precious promises are given for our 
 encouragement, confirmation, and joy, in prospect of 
 immortality. 
 
 " To the gracious care of the Saviour, I commend 
 you and your's, and conclude myself, 
 
 " Your obliged and aifeetionate ft-iend, 
 
 " JOHN STANFORD. 
 «' November loth, 1811." 
 
 From this, until the close of the year, Mr. Stanford 
 continued in the untiring prosecution of the duties of 
 his chaplaincy. The regions of worldly gratification 
 possessed no charms sufficient to allure his contem- 
 plative soul; while his peaceful labours were blessed 
 with the usefulness for which heaven had appointed 
 them, he was but little concerned wlio might wear 
 the diadem of earthly greatness, or wield the sceptre 
 of human power, or gather the deathless laurels of 
 literary glory, and fill the world with their fame. If 
 he could but witness the triumphs of the gospel, and 
 behold penitent sinners returning to the Saviour^ 
 
 la*
 
 150 WALKING BY FAITH. 
 
 and the kingdomof Christ extending; then his happi- 
 ness seemed to be complete. In this respect he was 
 favoured with no ordinary measure of enjoyment. 
 Nevertheless, during the last week of this year, the 
 good man seems to have experienced a temporary 
 mental depression ; but even in that condition, we 
 recognize the man of God " icalking hy faith.''' This 
 is apparent from the following note in his diary: — 
 *' My mind is far from being in a desirable frame, 
 whether to review or improve the events of the past 
 year ; but I will cast myself into the hand of that God 
 who has thus far directed my steps through this 
 gloomy vale of tears; and pray that in future he 
 would dispose of me and mine, in that way which 
 shall best promote his glory." Thus did he, like the 
 pious John Newton, declare, even in view of antici' 
 pated trials— 
 
 " Though dark be my way, since he is my guide, 
 'Tis mine to obey, 'tis his to provide; 
 Tlio' cisterns be broken, and creatures all fail, 
 The word he has spoken shall surely prevail." 
 
 With similar sentiments does he appear to have 
 commenced the year 1812. *' All I can say is. Lord, 
 dispose of me according to thy good pleasure ; be my 
 guide in life, grant me a peaceful end, and receive 
 my soul at last." 
 
 A prisoner being desirous of expressing his grati- 
 tude for the jireacliing of the gospel, wrote a Latin 
 letter to Mr. Stanford, which he enclosed in the fol- 
 lowing note to the superintendent of the Prison. 
 
 *• INDULGENT SIR, 
 
 ♦' Permit me, through the medium of yourself, to 
 present the Rev. IMr. Stanford with a New-Year's 
 gift. The friendly and disinterested manner in which 
 he has so frequently addressed us, has impressed me,
 
 A LATIN LETTER BY O. P. lol 
 
 and I sincerely believe many others, with a deep sense 
 of our obligations. 1 am not authorized to address 
 him in behalf of the prisoners, though individuals 
 cordially assent, but beg leave, in the commencement 
 of tlie New-Year, to give him a small token of our 
 gratitude. The mode may appear novel. 1 have 
 written it in Latin, not with a view to exhibit a spe- 
 cimen of an imperfect and much impaired education, 
 but merely to pay a just compliment to Mr. Stanford's 
 superior understanding. For your own personal 
 convenience, I have annexed to this a translation, as 
 literal as the peculiar idioms of the two languages 
 would permit. There are undoubtedly many imper- 
 fections; but Mr. Stanford's well known goodness 
 encourages a hope that lie will view it with candour. 
 
 " Notwithstanding the gratitude I feel for Mr. 
 Stanford, it is not confined to him alone. You, Sir, 
 hold an equal claim. For the numerous instances of 
 your past kindness, I wish you, on this occasion, a re- 
 storation of your health. May you liberally enjoy the 
 blessings of the New Year. May you long live to 
 enjoy conjugal and paternal felicity. May the lives of 
 those sweet babes, who daily delight you with their 
 innocent prattle, be prolonged; and may they become 
 ornaments to society, in whose future prosperity you 
 anticipate the joys of your old age. 
 
 *' AVith sentiments of gratitude, I subscribe myself, 
 
 " The unfortunate, 
 
 " O P . 
 
 " To Nicholas Roomc, Esq.^^ 
 
 " ANNI NOVI DONUM. 
 
 " Reverendissimo JoHA'S^i Stanford, Ariium Magis- 
 tro, TheoIogi(E Doctor i, hominumque amico, cum diffi- 
 dentia, dedicatiim est. 
 
 " Si liceat, mc miserum, in carcere ^lausum, et 
 ignomlnia circumtectum, te salutare ; mcmor anni 
 prseteriti, multorumque tuorum labor urn ad illumin-
 
 152 THE TRANSLATION. 
 
 andas nosti-um mentes imperitas, tibi beneficia divina 
 rogo. Tui conatus, in consolandis mcerentibus, tra- 
 hendisque animis ad peccantium Servatorem, gratias 
 poscunt. Non niihi verba sunt, quibns mentis moi 
 cogitata eniintiare. Non blandltias, sed verum loquor. 
 Est tibi siiavitas in niodo lofiuendi, qufe miserinios 
 solatLir, et benignitatem dicentis perspicue indicat. 
 Diini corpus dolore languescit, animum cum evangelii 
 alimento nutris. 
 
 " Ut cera dura igne calefaciatur, ita tuis sermoui- 
 bus corda obstinata ad accipienda veritatis divinae 
 vestigia parantur; atquc, dum mens in dubio errat, 
 viani, ad telicitatem oeternam monstras. 
 
 " Pro tuis officiis benignis, quibus snepissime politi 
 sumus, prosperitatem tuam, hoc anno novo augeri, 
 setatemque longam in terris teconterere, precor; at- 
 que, quando vitam mortalem relinquas, Dens ad sii- 
 peros te accipiat; ibi, adjunctus beatis, Dei Agnique 
 laiides in seternum modulare. 
 
 " Ita precatur, 
 
 " o p ." 
 
 " Jamiarii primo die, annoqiie Domini 1812."* 
 
 * To the original paper the writer of the above elegant and classical 
 couipoHilion sulijoined a note, by which he altered a word to avoid tauto- 
 logy. Thiscirciunstance, trivial as it may seem, is an additional evidence 
 of his critical scholarship, and furnishes abundant proof, that intellect, 
 far above mediocrity, is required in the man, who either as a missionary 
 or stated preach(>r, woidd minister with acceptance in a state-prison. 
 
 The following is a translation of the above letter; — 
 " A NEW YEAR'S GIFT. 
 " With diffidence addressed to the most Reverend John Stanford, Master 
 of Arts, Doctor of Ditiiiify, and tUcjricnd of man.* 
 
 " If it be proper for mc, a wretch, confuied in a prison, and clothed with 
 disgrace, to greet yon; contemplating the events of" tfie past year, and 
 your numerous endeavours to instruct our ignorant minds, I wish you 
 the blessings of heaven. Your lalwurs in consoling the wretclied, and 
 drawing souIh to the Saviour of sinners, demand our thanks. I have not 
 words wherei)y I can express the feelings of my heart. Not flattery, but 
 the truth I apeak. There is a suavity in your manner of speaking, which 
 gives comfort to the most miserable, and plainly indicates the humanity 
 
 • "Tho EnBliiiti rondrr will rcnif ruber that tills is titc usual stjlf of address, wlueli 
 was used among lUc polite Uonans-"
 
 THE DEBTOR:^. lo3 
 
 It was (Imini*- this year that Mr. Stanford coni- 
 jnonced his labours of Christian benevolence amongst 
 the unfurtiinate inmates of the Debtor's-Prison. When 
 he was invited by Mr. Bell, the humane and generous 
 superintendent of this institution, to give them at Icasr 
 one sermon on each Sabbath, his soul responded to 
 the call: " Yes," said he, " I will go, and freely pro- 
 claim unto them the acceptable year of the Lord! 
 What am I but a debtor? a debtor to God's law, and 
 a debtor to his grace ! Let this fact deeply impress 
 my heart, while most cheerfully I devote a portion of 
 my time for the rehgious benefit of these poor debtors 
 to man!" 
 
 In this good work he was not long permitted to 
 labour in vain. On the 21st of May, he was called to 
 visit a poor dying prisoner, to whom, according to his 
 own account, the Lord had been pleased to impart 
 the grace of life, through the instrumentahty of Mr. 
 Stanford. Death had now lost his terrors, and the 
 joy of God's salvation supported his soul in prospect 
 of eternity. lie said: — " 1 would not part with my 
 hope in Christ, for all the gold in the world!" And 
 having uttered this triumj)hant declaration, he fell 
 asleep, to wake no more until the archangel's trump 
 shall call the slumbering dead. 
 
 In the month of July, Mr. Stanford received a 
 communication from the Board of Inspectors of the 
 
 of the speaker; while the body languishes through grief, you nourish 
 the soul with gospel food. 
 
 " As hard wax is rendered soft by fire, so by your discourses stubborn 
 hearts are prepared to receive the impressions of divine truth ; and while 
 the mind wanders in error, you point out the way which leads to eternal 
 happiness. 
 
 " For your kind services, with which we have so frequently been 
 favoured, I pray that your [)rosperity may be increased this year; that 
 you may live long here below ; and when you quit this mortal life, may 
 God receive you to the mansions above, wliere, joined with the saints, 
 vow may for ever exalt the praises of God and the Lamb. 
 
 " Thus pravs, 
 
 " O-^- P ."
 
 154 SERVICES UxNREVVADED. 
 
 State-Prison, in which they expressed their thanks 
 for his services to that institution, and requested the 
 continuance of them. 
 
 It is due to 3Ir. Stanford tosay, as to the pecuniary 
 compensation which he received for services in the 
 pubHc institutions of this city, that it was the plea- 
 sure of attempting, in the name of the Lord, to do 
 good to the souls of men, and not the hope of emoUi- 
 ment, which induced him to persevere in this labori- 
 ous work. 
 
 Tliat Mr. Stanford was influenced by no sinister 
 motives, is too obvious to admit of a doubt. More 
 than twenty years did this faithful minister of Christ 
 render his services, w'ithout an adequate compensa- 
 tion, and under almost every variety of discourage- 
 ment. The scorching beams of noon, and the chilling 
 WMnds of night, were alike unheeded ; neither the 
 ingratitude and wickedness of many of those for 
 whose salvation he toiled and prayed, nor the growing 
 infirmitcs of old age, prevented him from attending 
 to their spiritual wants. Such unwearied diligence 
 is generally rewarded with an equivalent; but it was 
 otherwise in the present case. The average amount 
 of his compensation, during the above mentioned 
 period, never exceeded five hundred dollars per an- 
 num ; and at the time when his engagements with 
 " The Society for the Support of the Gospel among 
 the Poor in the City of New- York" terminated, by its 
 ceasing to exist, the institution owed him more 
 eighteen hundred dollars — not one dollar of whicl 
 ever been paid. 
 
 His diary for this }'ear shows an a\'crage of seven 
 sermons preached each week, which, if considered in 
 connection with the extraordinary amount and variety 
 of his other services, will leave him no superiors, and 
 but i\i\\, if any, C(pials, in modern times. 
 
 After his usual private devotions, and " renewing 
 his covenant with Cod," (which was his custom at the 
 
 L»y its 1 
 than Nw^ 
 
 1 has — ^^
 
 MAGDALE.N-ASVLUM. 155 
 
 coiuiueticcmentof eacli year,) Mr. Stanford began his 
 labours for 1813 by preaching a discourse to the 
 Bethel Baptist Church, from Psahn xxxi. 14 — " il/y 
 times arc in thy hand.''^ Whether his choice of this 
 text was by the special direction of heaven, or not, we 
 are unable to determine; but this year was attended 
 with many important changes, which seeni to consti- 
 tute an important era in the history of his useful 
 hfe. 
 
 In the events which follow, we see the unfoldings 
 of that mysterious Providence, which constrained him 
 to remain in New- York, notwithstanding repeated 
 solicitations to take the pastoral charge of distant 
 and wealthy congregations. The duties evidently 
 assigned to him by the Lord this year, as to import- 
 ance, extent, and variety, have seldom if ever de- 
 volved upon any one person. 
 
 January 7th. Tiiis day Mr. Stanford received an 
 application from a society, recently established, for 
 preaching the gospel to the poor in the City-Hospital, 
 and in the Aims-House, requesting him to relinquish 
 his academy, and devote himself wholly to those insti- 
 tutions, in connection with the State-Prison, Debtor's- 
 Prison, 6cc. 6ct. This being a subject of great im- 
 portance, he requested time to seek direction from 
 the Lord. 
 
 A Magdalcn-IIouse having been established at 
 Greenwich, 3Ir. Stanford was solicited to preach to 
 the unfortunate females, with which he cheerfully 
 complied, in the presence of a number of the mana- 
 gers, both ladies and gentlemen. His sermon was 
 from 1 Timothy i. 15 — " Christ Jesus came into the 
 world to save sinners.''^ During the several years 
 continuance of this establishment, he regularly and 
 gratuitously preached thegosj)el to the inmates, every 
 Wednesday. 
 
 February 3d. While taking his rounds in the 
 State-Prison hospital, he found four prisoners under
 
 15G CONVERSION OF J. W. C. 
 
 very serious impressions of mind. They appeared to 
 have a deep sense of the sinfuhiess of their hearts, 
 and their need of mercy from the Lord Jesus. Their 
 subsequent conduct afforded strong reasons to hope 
 that they had been made partakers of divine grace. 
 
 Conversion of J. W. C , a convict in the New- 
 York State-Prison. 
 
 3Ir. Stanford says, " This man had been confined 
 to his bed a considerable time. I had repeatedly 
 spoken to him, but he appeared indifierent to conver- 
 sation. However, about a month ago I told him how 
 much I myself stood in need of mercy from the Lord, 
 the friend of sinners. This seemed to awaken his 
 attention, and he said — ' Sir, if you need such mercy, 
 how much more do I need it ?' 
 
 *' February 3d. He appeared more sensible of his 
 guilty state, and asked me several questions on the 
 subject of salvation, which I endeavoured to answer 
 in aj)plication to himself. I left him apparently seek- 
 ing the Lord. 
 
 " February 10th. He wished to ask me a few 
 questions. The principal one was this — ' Whether a 
 man, enjoying the pardon of his sins, by the blood of 
 Christ, and a hope for heaven, could afterwards 
 perish.^' 1 replied, No; admitting that the man did 
 really possess them. For God's work is perfect ; he 
 never did deceive the good hope of any soul ; but the 
 hope of the hypocrite, that shall perish. A j)erson 
 merely professing these things, might, and would, 
 sooner or later, by temptation, abandon them, and 
 pursue a course of evil. He answered, * I have been 
 much troubled on these subjects, but I now see that 
 God must save from first to last, or it would be no 
 salvation at all.' I then stated to him the importance 
 of praying for the teaching of the Holy Spirit to 
 direct his mind, and reveal salvation to his heart. 
 God has promised his Spirit to them that ask him.
 
 CO.WERSIOM OF J. W. C Idlf 
 
 " February 21st. When I approached his bed, and 
 inquired after the state of his lieaUh, he turned his 
 now serene countenance towards me, and said, ' lam 
 well, and mv mind is reheved. Since Friday evening; 
 I have enjoyed that peace and comfort which I Yiever 
 knew before. I wish all my fellow-prisoners felt the 
 same. O, Sir, I longed for your visit, that I might 
 tell you of the relief I feel. I hope I can say, God 
 is my salvation ; I can give him my body and my 
 soul, as the objects of his merciful care, whether he 
 permit me to live, or send death to take )ne away. 
 1 hope to praise him in heaven for all his mercies to 
 me, a poor miserable sinner.' 
 
 " IMarch 3d. * I continue to enjoy much peace,' he 
 remarked, ' and look to the Lord to keep me. I 
 know I cannot keep myself — my health is better, but 
 I give my body and spirit to the Lord, that I may be 
 his for ever. This is the only desire of my heart.' 
 
 *' 3Iarch 7th. He appeared not so cheerful ; yet 
 lie said, ' I know the Lord has done much for me, and 
 I cannot but praise him. I am anxious for every man 
 iiere. I pray God to convince them of sin, and lead 
 them to the Saviour.' 
 
 *' Soon after this he so far recovered, that he 
 went into the workshop, under an impression that a 
 change of air and moderate exercise might contribute 
 to restore his health. In this situation he continued 
 for about nine months, during which I had frequent 
 conversations with him. Eventually his constitution 
 gave way, and he returned to the liospital. It soon 
 became evident that he could live but a very short 
 time. On my entering the room I found him much 
 engaged with God for the experience of more grace, 
 that he might be assured of an interest in the Re- 
 deemer. The nature of such assurance 1 endea- 
 voured to explain to him from the word of God, and 
 encouraged him still to hope and pray for the blessing. 
 When I was about to prav with him, he said, ' Sir, 
 
 14
 
 153 HAPi'Y DEATH OF J. W. C. 
 
 do not pray for the life of m}' body, but pray for the 
 life of my soul.' After prayer he expressed his fear 
 that he might die before I visited him a^ain ; but 
 assuring him that in case he should he worse, I would 
 make* him a sjiecial visit, he expressed his warmest 
 gratitude. 
 
 " September 19th. While at the City-IIospital the 
 carriage was sent for me, to attend this man. 1 
 proposed to him several questions. The following is 
 the substance of his answers : — ' I have been a great 
 transgressor against a just God all my days — I have 
 no Jiope for another worhl, but from the atoning 
 blood of the Son of God — I liave not now that peace 
 and comfort I had some time ago — I want to feel 
 God's love in my heart — Though I am so uncomfort- 
 able in my mind, I cannot, and by his grace helping 
 me, I will not give up looking to Christ Jesus as the 
 only Saviour — I leave the time of my death to the 
 Lord ; I wish his will to be done, and not my own — 
 
 Lord, speak peace to my soul, I want nothing 
 else.' 
 
 *' September 21st. He said, ' Since you were here 
 last, I think I have had some relief in my heart. I 
 now know that the peace, comfort, and hope which 
 
 1 enjoyed son)e time ago, were not imaginary ; and I 
 V)elievc that God will give me assured peace again 
 before I die, for he is faithful.' This day 1 visited 
 him three times, and he very aflectionatcly took leave 
 of me in such teiins as delicacy forbids me to record. 
 He died shortly after my departure, rejoicing in 
 Christ." 
 
 After Mr. Stanford had closed his sermon in hall 
 JN'o. 5, one of the state prisoners, formerly a lawyer 
 
 in , familiarly called " Ned Craig," was at liis 
 
 own particular request, permitted to propound a doc- 
 trinal question to the preacher. Among tlie indivi- 
 duals present, were several prisoners who formerly
 
 SATAN AND NED CllAIG VANQUISHED. 159 
 
 ranked liigli in the learned professions, and one who 
 fiad occupied the chair of professor of languages in a 
 university. 
 
 " Pray," said he, " liovv can you reconcile the 
 general invitations of the gospel with the doctrine of 
 a particular election?" 
 
 iMr. Stanford, turning to those present, replied — 
 " These gentletnen know, that it is not customary to 
 teach children abstruse doctrines in any science, until 
 tliey have first learned their grammar. I am no 
 polemic, and preach to you the plain gospel ; but you 
 must learn the A. B. C. of divinity, before I shall at- 
 tempt to explain the subject of your inquiry." 
 
 This pungent reply to an impertinent question, 
 propounded not with a view to improvement, but for 
 the purpose of embarrassing the preacher, aftbrded 
 great satisfaction to the other prisoners ; and one of 
 them wrote the following lines on the subject. 
 
 " GOSPEL DOCTRINE TRIUMPHANT; 
 
 OR 
 " SATAN AND NED CRAIG VANQUISHED. 
 
 " While Stanford preacli'd the gospel pare, 
 Which does to Christ our hearts allure, 
 The Devil felt it such a plague, 
 He enter'd into poor Ned Craig. 
 
 " Poor Neddy, prompt with hellish pride, 
 And ignorance too, in rolling tide. 
 With meagre loolvs, and visage thin, 
 Satan without, and hell within, 
 
 " Advanc'd towards the sacred desk, 
 (Ignorance and pride were all his risk,) 
 And did our parson there attack. 
 With Satan's message, Neddy's clack. 
 
 " The parson answcr'd, all discreet. 
 That he polemics did not meet, 
 And wish'd poor Ned to stop his clamour, 
 Aud study close the school-boy's grammar.
 
 160 BRIDEWELL. 
 
 " Our rev'rend parson did o'erthrow 
 Satan and Neddy, thus in Co. : 
 And tiius to Satan and Ned Craig, 
 Christ's doctrine is an endless plague. 
 
 '' Poor Ned, sans sense, sans gospel light. 
 Loaded by Satan, challenged fight 
 With him who's fill'd with gospel lore. 
 And riches, an eternal store. 
 
 " Good Stanford's doctrines he can't shock; 
 They're built on an Eternal Ilock ; 
 But Neddy's are but hay and stubble, 
 Just like himself — old Satan's bubble. 
 
 " O, Lucifer! receive your son! 
 You've loaded him as your pop-gun, 
 And now you're out of ammunition, 
 You're both cojisign'd unto perdition!" 
 
 In the month of March Mr. Stanford wrote an 
 address to the religious part of our citizens, on "The 
 Importance of Social Prayer, under tlie present 
 Calamity of War," which was published in several of 
 the newspapers, and afterwards, in the form of a 
 tract. 
 
 On the ^Bth of this month he preaclied his first 
 sermon in the Bridewell, from Acts xiv. 7 — " There 
 ihey preached ike gospel. ^^ The unhappy females are 
 said to have conducted with much proj)riety, and 
 some of them were observed to be in tears. 
 
 Wednesday, April Cth, Mr. Stanford visited the 
 State-Prison hospital, where he observed a man at 
 the end of one of the rooms sitting up in his bed and 
 beckoning to him. On approaching the unhappy 
 creature, he burst into tears, and entreated the mi- 
 nister of Cod to j>ray with him. His subsequent 
 conversation made it very evident that lie was earn- 
 estly seeking the Lord, for the salvation of his soul. 
 
 The evening of this day was spent in the Bapti.st 
 church in Vandam-street, where Mr. S. delivered a
 
 CONVERSION OF R. 161 
 
 solemn and impressive charge to tlic minister elect, 
 and to the congregation present, at the ordination of 
 the Rev. Mr. Hastings. 
 
 The day following Mr. Stanford was taken very 
 ill, and continued under medical treatment for several 
 days. In the meantime the prisoner before men- 
 tioned died of a malignant fever. " This occurrence," 
 says Mr. S. " deeply impressed my mind with the 
 importance of setting the Lord always before me; 
 that amid the imminent dangers to which I am daily 
 exposed in my visits to the sick and the dying, I may 
 myself be prcjiarcd to meet my Saviour, whether he 
 come in the evening, at midnight, or in the morning." 
 
 The conversion of R . 
 
 "When," says Mr. Stanford, " I first visited him, 
 1 was much surprised to find he was so seriously dis- 
 posed. He said, ' I have but one desire in this world, 
 and that is, that I may have an interest in Christ, as 
 my Saviour and my friend. O, Sir, I wish you would 
 inform me how I may obtain and know that I have 
 indeed received this inestimable blessing.' I ex- 
 plained to him this text — ' Hcrchjj ice knoio thai he 
 divellcih in us, and we in him, h\j his Spirit, which he 
 hath given unto us.'' 1 also explained to him the office 
 of the Holy Spirit, to convince the sinner of his need 
 of Christ, and then to reveal him to the contrite in 
 heart, and to speak pardon and peace. He thanked 
 me, and earnestly begged my i)rayers, that he might 
 obtain mercy through Christ. 
 
 " The next time 1 visited him he was very low, all 
 he could say was, ' [ am constant in prayer ; I want 
 to know that the Saviour is mine, and that I have an 
 interest in his death, and then my death will be easy 
 and happy.' 
 
 '• A few days after this I asked him, if God had 
 revealed his mercy to him. He said, ' O yes, Sir, I 
 now think I have a knowledge of that interest in 
 
 14*
 
 162 A PRISONER IN CHAINS. 
 
 Christ which I wanted.' His tears appeared to be 
 those of joy. 
 
 " When 1 visited him for the last time, he was only 
 able to utter the following short sentence : — ' I have 
 an interest and peace in Christ.' 
 
 " A prisoner (a French Roman Catholic,) in tiie 
 opposite bed, was also very low. With this man 1 
 had conversed several times, and he appeared very 
 thoughtfid about a future state. Last week Mr, 
 Roome asked this man if he wished to see his j)riest. 
 He said, ' No ; Mr. Stanford has told me all I want to 
 know.' 
 
 '■ About an hour before R died, the jiower of 
 
 speech returned, and he spoke so loud that he could 
 be heard in every part of the hospital. He j)Ossessed 
 great composure of mind, and departed rejoicing in 
 the Saviour." 
 
 The following lines were composed by a convict 
 in the State-Prison, on beholding a prisoner entering 
 the middle liall in chains : — 
 
 " All! mournful wretch, thy sad unjiappy fate. 
 Draws from my eyes the briny pitying tear ; 
 Thy clanking irons do thy case relate, 
 
 While keen sensations thou art doom'd to bear. 
 
 " I ask not from what source thy troubles rose, 
 Nor the recital of thy tale of grief; 
 I look at mine, as well as others woes, 
 And give my al! — a tear for their relief 
 
 " If tears could wash the stain of sin away, 
 And cancel all my follow pris'ners guilt, 
 I'd weep from morn to eve, from eve 'till morn. 
 Nor cca«e 'till every trevnbling drop was spilt. 
 
 •' But all in vain the tear for tlice might flow, 
 
 Nought can avail to sooth the sorrowing heart ; 
 No joys or pleasures now our bosoms know, 
 With all Uiat'rt social we are call'd to part.
 
 HIS FIKLD OF LABOUR ENLARGED. 1G3 
 
 " Yet may we all submissive be, aiul trust 
 
 To Him who hears tlie uiouniiug pris'ner's sighs ; 
 And well rememl)er, He is over just, 
 
 And lends a list'uing ear to all their cries. 
 
 ' J • P ." 
 
 Tlie services of Mr. Stanford in the State-Prison 
 ^vcre not only gratuitous, hut \\ithout any distinct 
 appointment until the year (1812,) when the legis- 
 lature of this state passed an act for j)roviding a 
 chaplain to perform religious services in the State- 
 Prison. Immediately after the passage of this law, 
 Mr. Stanford was unanimously elected to tiiat office 
 by t!ic IJoard of inspectors, and continued as the able 
 and indofatigiiblc minister of (Christ in that institu- 
 tion, until its removal from this city to Sinar-Sing, 
 in 1828. 
 
 Having souglit the guidance of the Lord, by con- 
 tinued prayer for direction, on the subject of an in- 
 vitation from a socicly of genllemcn, to relinquish 
 his academy, and take upon himself the ministerial 
 charge of the City-Hospital and Alms-Housc, Mr. 
 Stanford, on the 20th of June, 1S13, resolved, in de- 
 pendence upon the grace of God, and \vith the advice 
 of some his most pious and judicious friends, to relin- 
 fpiish his academy, which alfordcd him a competent 
 support, and devote himself lo the Lord in this im- 
 portant work ; at the same time, resolving to beconte 
 a missionary of the cross to the poor and miserable of 
 the city, wherever he might find them ; on the 30th 
 of the same nionti), therefore, he relinquished his 
 academial engagements, after having been in this 
 einploymcnt nearly thirty-six years. A transition so 
 remarkable, at iiis advanced age, could not fail to 
 excite emotions, which language was too feeble to 
 express, and which nothing but a strong sense of 
 duty could have enabled him to overcome. Never- 
 theless, his accustomed and holy submission, undcj- all 
 the changing scenes of life, assisted him to accommo-
 
 164 A STRANGER ON THE EARTH. 
 
 date his feelings to the varying dispensations of 
 heaven. 
 
 We have often contemplated Mr. Stanford with 
 admiration, as " a stranger on the earth," not only 
 with respect to his transient condition, but in the dis- 
 position of his mind. As to the vanities of this world, 
 and all unfounded hopes of changeless bliss below 
 the skies, he appeared to us like the royal David, 
 whose soul was " even as a iceaned child.^'' Did the 
 Almighty, in his inscrutable providence, tear from 
 him the wife of his youth? Have his children fallen 
 one after another, by the stroke of death? Like 
 Aaron, he " held his jjeace.^^ " / leas dumh,^^ says the 
 psalmist, " and opened not mi/ mouthy because thou didst 
 if.^^ Yes, he has been seen, like Job, standing upon 
 the ruins of temporal prosperity, and exclaiming — 
 " The Lord gave, ami the Lord halh taken away ; 
 blessed be the name of the Lord.^' 
 
 j" My times of sorrow and ofjoy 
 Great God, are in thy hand ; 
 My choicest coiuforts conic from thcc, 
 And go at tiiy command. 
 
 " If thou shouldst take them all away, 
 Yet would I not repine ; 
 Before they were possess'd by me, 
 They were entirely thine. 
 
 " Nor would I drop a niurm'ring word, 
 Though the whole world were gone ; 
 But seek enduring happiness 
 In Thcc, and T/ice alone !" 
 
 O how necessary to the enjoyment of true happiness 
 is a humble spirit of submission to the will of God! 
 In the ignorance and pride of our hearts wo are prone 
 to misjudge the my. terious dispensations of heaven. 
 " A Providence occurs," says an able writer, " it 
 strikes us, we endeavour to explain it — but are wc 
 certain that wc have seized the true meaning ? Per-
 
 ZENO AND .SLMXA. 165 
 
 haps what wc tiikc as an end, may be only the way ; 
 what we take as the wliole, may he only a |)art ; what 
 we deprecate, may he a hlessing; and what we most 
 earnestly "pray for, may prove to be a curse; what 
 appears confusion, may be the tendencies of order ; 
 A\ hat looks like the disasters of Providence, may he 
 the prcj)aration of its triumph." 
 
 It is related of Zcno, that when, by a shipv>rcck, 
 he was deprived of all his wealth, he openly declared, 
 that he considered it to be the best voyage he had 
 ever made, because the loss of his money had driven 
 him to "the study of virtue and philosophy."' "What 
 then must be the ad\ antage of those temj)orary losses 
 and afflictions, the tendency of which is, to wean the 
 Christian from the love of this present evil world, and 
 compel him to " seek those things which are above, 
 where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God." 
 
 •' I only want to know your will," said Seneca, 
 when speaking to God, " as soon as 1 know what that 
 is, I am always of the same mind. I do not say you 
 have taken from me, that looks as if I were unwilling ; 
 but that you have accepted from me, that wiiich I am 
 ready to offer." As Christians, let us not only emu- 
 late, but endeavour to excel these noble-minded hea- 
 then, under the ordinarv changes and calamities of 
 life,
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HE COMMENCES HIS CHAPLAINCY IN THE CITY-HOSFITAL 
 
 LABOURS IN THE UNITED STATES MILITARY-HOSPITAL 
 
 PUBLISHES A CATECHISM VARIOUS SERVICES TO THE END 
 
 OF 18 U. 
 
 July 1st. Lord's day. At eight o'clock this morning, 
 Mr. Stanford preached his first sermon, as the re- 
 gularly appointed chaplain, in the City-Hospital, from 
 Psahn xli. 3 — " The Lord will strengthen him upon 
 the bed of languishing : thou wilt make all his bed in his 
 sickness.''^ Blind George, from the Aims-House, con- 
 ducted the singing with his accustomed animation. 
 
 On the morning of the Tuesday following, he 
 visited the institution, conversing and praying witli 
 the patients in twelve of the wards, as their cases 
 appeared to require. After returning home, he 
 made this note in his diary: — " O my Heavenly 
 Father, how great the tenderness, compassion, and 
 faithfulness, which will be recpiired to perform such 
 visits with propriety and success : all my hope i^ in 
 the Lord!" 
 
 The following quotation from his diary, presents 
 another instance of the laborious services of Mr. 
 Stanford as a minister of the gospel, worthy of that 
 good cause to which he had devoted the energies of 
 his useful life. It is due to his memory to say, that 
 this is not selected as an uncommon instance of his 
 untiring zeal, but rather as a specimen of what fre- 
 quently occurred in the discharge of his ministerial 
 duties. 
 
 " Lord's day. Morning, at half past eight, preached 
 in the City-Hospital, and afterwards prayed with a 
 sick patient. Preached in the State-Prison chapel at
 
 MILITARY lIOSriTAL. 167 
 
 ten o'clock, and visited the sick in the prison hospital 
 at noon. Preached ag'ain to the pri.-onors in the 
 attcrnoon, and immediately walked to the JMagdalcn- 
 Ilouse, and preached another sermon, and in the 
 evening preached in the Alms-Housc. The Lord 
 graciously assisted me this day in these five sermons, 
 and other duties; and as the heat iras al. eigltiij-sevcn, 
 I am the more thankful for his aid, and hope a bless- 
 ing will succeed my feeble eftbrts." 
 
 On the following Thursday, after performing an 
 equal amount of ministerial labour, he walked to the 
 United States Military-Hospital, about half a mile 
 from the prison, where he was kindly received by 
 Mr. Jones, ihe superintendent, an<l spent some time 
 in conversing and praying with the sick and dying. 
 Mr. Jones informed him that no minister had ever 
 visited the patients before, and earnestly entreated 
 him to become their Sj)iritual guide. With this request 
 lie promised to comply as far as practicable. After 
 leaving the Military Hospital, he closed the day by 
 [)erforming divine service in the Magdalen-House. 
 
 Friday, the r2th of July, Mr. Stanford again visited 
 the City-Hospital, where he found a poor suftcrer who 
 had been shot through the body, and had several 
 |)ieces of his ribs extracted through the orifice of ifie 
 wound. His mind, however, was very tranquil, and 
 looking for tlic mercy of the Lord Jesus. In another 
 ward lay a man who had fallen from the top of a 
 main-mast to the deck; his arms v>ere both broken, 
 and his eye and jaw most dreadfully injured. With 
 this man, ?iL-. Stanford had an interesting conversa- 
 tion, as also with two of his shipmates then present, 
 who had witnessed the accident, and recited to him 
 the attending circumstances. While he was speaking 
 to the patient of the sjiaring mercy of God to him, 
 and showing how great was that love which pre- 
 vented his being dashed into an awfid eternity, his 
 companions appeared much aflected. even unto tears.
 
 IGS GRATEFUL SAILORS. 
 
 There is perliaps no other spectacle upon the earth 
 more hiteresting than to seetiie liardy sons of the ocean 
 melting and \seeping- under the sound of a preaciied 
 gospel. They have heard, unmoved, the foaming bil- 
 lows roar, and the maddening battle thunder has 
 failed to alarm them. But the voice of mercy pos- 
 sesses an energy, which mere human bravery has no 
 ability to resist. To these men, as well as to the sick, 
 Mr. Stan fori! stated the necessity of an interest in 
 the pardoning blood, and renewing grace of the Lord 
 Jesus, to prepare them for death and eternity. When 
 it was proposed to return thanks to God for preserv- 
 ing the life of their friend, they expressed their ap- 
 j)robation in a singularly pleasing manner; after 
 which, with all the frankness of warm-hearted sailors, 
 they gave him a hearty shake of the hand, and re- 
 turned him their thanks. 
 
 After this interview, he accompanied the matron, 
 for the first time, to the ward appropriated for un- 
 fortunate females. One young woman was in a very 
 deplorable situation, and it was with great ditliculty 
 he could understand what she said, as her criminal 
 course had nearly destroyed the power of speech. 
 During the conversation, in which 3Tr. Stanford faith- 
 fully described the dreadful condition of her soul, he 
 discovered the names of her parents, and knew thcnj 
 to be people of great rcsj^ectability. This unhappy 
 young woman had been seduced into the paths of vice, 
 by one of those monsters in human shape, who, under 
 the guise of affection and flattering promises, too fVe- 
 (piently, alas ! in an unguarded moment, succeed in 
 destroying for ever the virtue and the |)eace of their 
 nn.-;iis|)ecting and too confiding female victim. 
 
 'J'hursday, the 18th, Mr. Stanford visited eleven 
 wards in the Alms-Ilouse, and conversed with a num- 
 ber of very sick and aged j)eople. Nearly all of them 
 Avere desirous to iiave worship |)erfornied in their 
 respective rooms. As far as possible to gratify this*
 
 A MAGDALEN RECLAIMED. 169 
 
 wish of the aged and iiifirii), he made arrangements 
 lo continue the Lord's day evening lectures, alter- 
 nately in the two lower wards, adjoining the hall; and 
 on Tuesday evening to perform divine service in the 
 upper rooms. It may not be improper to say, that 
 at these services, especially on the Sabbath evening, 
 a number of respectable citizens fre(picntly attended. 
 Blind George always conducted the singing; for which 
 Mr. Stanford allowed him a small compensation. 
 
 Inscrutable are the ways of God — his judgments 
 are unsearchable. Mr. Stanford had no sooner re- 
 turned from the Alms-House, and sat down to dinner, 
 than he was seized with a violent fever, which con- 
 fined him to his chamber for many days, and left but 
 little hope of his recovery, nevertheless, the Lord 
 delivered him from death. As soon as he became 
 convalescent, he accepted the affectionate invitation 
 of his tried friend, Divie Bethune, Esq. to spend a 
 few days at his country-seat. This desirable change 
 of air proved highly beneficial, and in a short time he 
 was again enabled to visit the sick in the State-Prison 
 hospital. This he was the more anxious to do, that 
 
 lie might converse with J. R , who had recently 
 
 become much distressed about the concerns of his 
 soul. 
 
 On the following day, though with great difficulty, 
 he walked to the Magdalen-House, and conversed 
 with one of the unfortunate young women, who was 
 in great distress of mind. This individual was, it is 
 hoped, subsequently restored by the Lord to the paths 
 of virtue and godliness. If so, O how great the 
 satisfaction which such an event must aflbrd those 
 benevolent individuals who originated the institution! 
 Monday, the 2d of August, he thus remarks: — 
 " The public institutions not recjuiring the whole of 
 my attention to-day, I visited several, what I call, 
 out-door patients. One was the widow of the late 
 Captain Dobson, who was blown up with the vessel 
 
 15
 
 170 HAPPY DEATH OF J. R. 
 
 called " The Little Teazer." I found her, as ex^ 
 pected, almost overwhelmed with grief; but she re-* 
 ceived my instructions with cordiality, and earnestly 
 requested a repetition of my visits." 
 
 Thursday, the 5th. In the morning he performed 
 divine service in the Magdalen-House, and in the 
 afternoon, attended the sick in the State-Prison. J. 
 
 R , the penitent prisoner was very low, and could 
 
 just say, so as to be heard, " My heart is happy, 
 trusting in my God." IMr. Stanford prayed with him 
 for the last time — he died that afternoon, rejoicing in 
 the hope of eternal life. 
 
 While in the City-Hospital, on the 12th of August, 
 Mr. S. was requested to visit a young man, who was 
 supposed to be dying. An aged person, said to be his 
 father, was sitting by his side, and when Mr. Stanford 
 inquired of the patient the state of his mind, the old 
 man interrupted him by saying, " My son does not 
 want any one to speak to him." To this 3Ir. S. 
 replied, that he came to discharge his duty to the 
 sick in the hospital. After a few minutes of silence, 
 the father very abruptly replied, " I do not believe 
 that God made any of his creatures to damn them." 
 '• My friend," said Mr. S. " I do not mean to enter 
 into controversy with you, but I am fully persuaded 
 that we all have sin enough to condemn us." At 
 this the sick young man twisted the corner of his 
 blanket round his head, and refused to hear any more 
 upon the subject. It w as afterwards ascertained that 
 the father and son were both confirmed deists. In 
 another ward he found a young man approaching 
 death, who was very sensible of his sins, and im()lored 
 the mercy of God. So true is it, that God hath 
 *' mercy on ichom he will have mercy, and nliom he icill 
 he hardeneih^'' by leaving them to follow their own 
 delusions. 
 
 The following Sabbath he preached in the morning 
 at eight o'clock in the City-Hospital, and at half past
 
 DREADFUL CONSEQUENCES OF INFIDELITY. 171 
 
 ten intlic Stale-Prison. After sermon lie visited two 
 men who were chained to the floor, in one of the 
 gloomy cells of the prison. One of them appeared 
 penitent; bnt the other was apparently as hardened 
 as his chains. Before leaving this horrible place, ho 
 faithfully admonished the criminals, and having di- 
 rected them to the blood of Christ for pardon, he 
 closed the interview with prayer to God for their 
 salvation. 
 
 In the afternoon he preached, and administered 
 the Lo/d's supper to the church in 3Iulberry-street, 
 and in the evening he preached in the Aims-House. 
 
 On the 17th of August, Mr. Stanford made the fol- 
 lowing note in his diary : — " This has been my visiting 
 day at the City-Hospital. Was informed by nurse 
 P. that the deistical young man whom I visited a few 
 days since, and who was accompanied by his father, 
 died last night. She said, * Sir, he died like a coward 
 at last, for a little before he departed he said, ^ Idont 
 know but that I have been mistaken, and that God is now 
 going to punish me for my sins.'' Does not this case 
 demonstrate, that although men may profess to be 
 deists — reject the Bible — and despise the mercy of the 
 Lord Jesus when danger is afar off, yet death will 
 undeceive them f" 
 
 I>at why does any man reject the sacred volume, 
 and dare to venture into eternity without a guide ? 
 Is there no sublimity in'its style; no purity in its 
 precepts; no evidences of truth stami)ed upon the 
 pages of its history ? Have patriarchs, and prophets, 
 and apostles, and martyrs, lal)0uretl, and suffered, 
 and died, under a delusion ? AVere such men as Sir 
 Isaac Newton, 31ilton, Young, and millions of the 
 wisest and best of every age deceived? Were they 
 incompetent to an enlightened investigation of the 
 ditKculties with which the proud sceptic imagines 
 that he finds revelation invested ? Few men can be 
 found who will venture to answer in the affirmative,
 
 172 THE HATRED OF AHAB. 
 
 Why, then, do men ojjpose or reject Christianity, 
 and hazard tlie tremendous consequences of tlieir 
 unreasonable conduct f The truth is, that if the 
 Christian is right, then the infidel is wrong; and if 
 the Uible, which we believe to contain a revelation of 
 the moral glory of God, does indeed establish its own 
 claim to divine authenticity, then eternal condemna- 
 tion must be the result of a life of impenitence and 
 sin. This the infidel secretly beli(.nes ; and hence 
 the necessity which he perceives, of either repenting, 
 and abandoning all his favourite vices, or of rejecting 
 the Bible and Christianity as a whole. 'J'he opposi- 
 tion of such men, very much resembles the conduct of 
 the idolatrous Ahab, king of Israrl, v. ho hated and 
 rejected Micaiali, the faithl'ul pioiilict of the Lord. 
 " / hate him : for he doth not propJiccij good concerning 
 me, hid evil.^^ 1 Kings xxii. 8.* 
 
 Friday morning, the 27th, Mr. Stanford visited 
 several rooms in the Ahns-llonse. On this occasion 
 he says: — " I enjoyed unusual satisfaction in convcr- 
 
 * A melancholy instance of inveterate malignity against the tnitii of 
 
 Cliristianity occnrred in the case of an IjiJilisii nobleman. Lord 11 . 
 
 of . At first he only allowed himself to he absent from ihe public 
 
 worship of God; then he became a subscriber to the infuii'l iiiiblicatidns 
 of the day, and spent his Sabbaths in reading them. The next step was 
 to lay aside all the restraints ol' early religious education; and in a short 
 time he became an avowed deist. Nothing could Jiow exceed the hos- 
 tility which he displayed towards tlie inspired volume, and the followers 
 of Christ. This opposition was c-onlimied for several years, until at last 
 the insulted justice of J(;hovah laid him upon his dying pillow. Then, 
 like the young man meutitmed Iiy IMr yianford, he found, ala.-- ! too late, 
 that infidelity has no consolation.s ailaptcd to tlie wants of the soul in the 
 hour of dissolution. When he was lold that his time was short — tliat ho 
 could not survive the dei-iin(! of thai day, his mind iie(ranie greatly agitated. 
 The recollection of his blasphemy, anil opposiiicm to Christ, at whose bar 
 he must soon appear, nmdere.l him almost frantic with d(!s|)air. " Go," 
 said he to a person ni;ar his bed, " go into the library and bring me that 
 accursed hook, by vvbicli I w;is first taught to qncstion. then to contra- 
 dict, and then to l)las[)henie that holy vohnnc, the revelation of "the great 
 God, the belief of which I now find indisjicn-a'ile to the comfort and 
 salvation of my soid.'' The book was no sooner put into his hand, than 
 he tore it into a thousand jiieces, and threw it into the firo. In a fevy 
 minutes after he closed Ids eyes, and sunk in death.
 
 SOCIETV Ol' THE UNITED BRETHREN. 173 
 
 sation with a niunbcr of very aged persons, who were 
 waiting for death, and rc^joicing in hope of the glory 
 of Go(J. O how good it is to nieet with such old 
 jewels of the Lord, atnidst the rubbish of the world." 
 The annexed extract is very descriptive of the 
 character of our departed friend, lie was a Baptist 
 both in principle and practice; but he was also a 
 devoted Christian, and availed himself of every suit- 
 able op|)ortunity to manifest his sincere attachment 
 to Christians of cv(;ry evangelical denomination. 
 With such it was ever his delight to co-operate, in 
 advancing the em[)ire of the ascended Redeemer. 
 
 " Extract from the protocol of tlie thirtieth general 
 meeting of the Society of the United Erethren for 
 Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen, which 
 usually meets at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, held 20th 
 of August, 1813. 
 
 " The president mentioned that the Rev. John 
 Stanford, of Ncnv-York, a true friend of the Brethren, 
 who takes especially a near share in the progress of 
 our missions among the heathen, had made known 
 to the directors, through brother Mortimer, his wish 
 to become a member of this society; and, agreeable 
 to the uniform practice hitherto in such cases, had 
 been received by them as an honorary manher, (agree- 
 able to the third article of the statutes,) without first 
 consulting the society on the subject. The members 
 present unanimously expressed their particular satis- 
 faction at hearing this. 
 
 " BENJAMIN 3I0RTIMER." 
 
 On the following Tuesday Mr. S. visited seven 
 rooms in the City-Hospital. In one of them he 
 found a lad, who had fallen from the top of a 
 house, and broken his thigh, both arms, and par- 
 tially fractured his skull. His mother and three 
 brothers, who were Roman Catholics, were at his bed- 
 
 15*
 
 174 LETTER TO A. B. ESQ. 
 
 side. Mr. Stanford requested the nurse to shut the 
 door, that he miglit engage in prayer ; but to this the 
 elder brotlier objected. Mr. S. mildly informed him, 
 that as chaplain to the hospital, this was a service with 
 ■which he could not conscientiously dispense. After 
 prayer, the mother was absorbed in tears, and even 
 the brothers appeared thankful. 
 
 It is a subject of regret, that Mr. Stanford's diary 
 for the four remaining months in the year, were 
 loaned to a friend for his perusal, who soon after 
 died, and the manuscript was never recovered; but 
 from his text-book it apj)ears, that he continued his 
 regular services in the State-Prison, City-Ilospital, 
 Alms-Housc, Magdalen-IIouse, and the Uiiitod States 
 Military-Hospital, Sec. 
 
 During this year, (1813) he was assij-ted to labour 
 with unabated zeal, and at the close of his notes for 
 the year, he says: — " Whatever good may have been 
 done among the poor people of my charge, I ascribe 
 all the glory and piaise to my gracious God in Christ. 
 Amen." 
 
 Letter of condolence addressed to A***** B*****» 
 Esq. who was greatly afllicted by a sudden and pain- 
 ful bereavement. 
 
 *' DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 " Informed of your domestic trials, respect and 
 gratitude in)pel me to address you. To resign so line 
 a child to the grave, after indulging the fondest hopes 
 of his eventually being tiic solace of your advancing 
 years, must be extremely afflicting, and calls for con- 
 solation more than mortal sympathy can give. 
 
 " In the midst of our sorrows, it is very diiHcult to 
 discern the intention of the Almighty; a dark cloud 
 covers the mind, and irritability olten distracts the 
 frame; but afterwards, like the traveller who has 
 passed the desert, and gained the mountain's tup, we
 
 LETTER TO A. D. ESQ. 175 
 
 can better review the dreary path we have trodden, 
 and make the necessary iinproverncnts. 1 trust it 
 will ere lon^- be thus with you. (j!od has given you 
 several precious chiUhcn. The roses in your garden 
 liave ah-eady alibrded you much dehght. Had not 
 the Lord a right to take this Httle flower and trans- 
 plant it in heaven? He still, and know that he is 
 God. If he has removed one flower, remember he 
 Jias spared others to delight your heart. He has an 
 indisputable right to the whole, and could ere this 
 have caused their leaves to drop, and removed them 
 for ever from your view. Nay, more, he could have 
 commanded death to dissolve the marriage band, and 
 have taken the wife from the husband, and thus 
 swelled the tide of your grief. Or the husband and 
 the father might have been separated from the mother 
 and her children, and they left to pass the remnant 
 of their days in sorrow. 
 
 " At this awful season of pestilence, into how many 
 excellent families has not death entered ! On every 
 side \\c bcholil widows wringing their hands for the 
 loss ol" their husbands, the stafi" of their support, and 
 the solace of their days. Orphans mourning the loss 
 of parents, in vain look for some kind hand to save. 
 But look around upon your charming family, the ma- 
 jority of whom are yet reserved to promote your joy ! 
 
 " 3Iay tiie j)resent stroke of death, which has de- 
 })rived you of a delightful son, be the means of teach- 
 ing you to enjoy your children, and all you possess, 
 ' in the Lord.' Then, should Providence remove them 
 from your embraces, you will cheerfully acquiesce in 
 the Saviour's \\ ill, who gave, and has a right to take 
 away. 
 
 " With sincere desires for your personal and 
 domestic felicity, 
 
 *' I remain, 
 
 " Your aflectionate friend, 
 
 "JOHN STANFORD."
 
 176 SCHOOLS IN THE STATE-PR I SOi\. 
 
 Mr. Stanford commenced the first page of his 
 diary for 1814, witii the following pious remark : — 
 " Another year commenced. AV hat work the Lord 
 lias appointed for me among the forlorn classes com- 
 mitted to my care, or what general services for the 
 benefit of my fellow creatures, I know not. O Lord, 
 put thy fear into my heart ; give me grace to walk 
 humbly before thee, and make my strength equal 
 to my day; then all will be well, and thy name shall 
 be glorified." 
 
 It may not be improper, in this place, again to 
 remind the reader, that the preceding, as well as the 
 following account of the public and private labours 
 of Mr. Stanford, as a mitrister of the gospel, are to 
 be regarded not as a full statement in detail, but as 
 an epitome of his diary, from which, if it were desira- 
 ble, volumes might be filled with the recital of touch- 
 ing and interesting incidents. 
 
 Lord's day. At eight A. M. he preached in the 
 City-Hos[)ital; and in the State-Prison at half past 
 ten A. j\L and then visited the sick. In the after- 
 noon he preached to the churcli in Broome-street ; and 
 in the evening in the Alms-Ilouse, to a large number 
 of paupers, who were serious and attentive. Blessed 
 be the adorable Saviour, who has commanded the 
 gospel to be j)reached to the poor. 
 
 Monday. Mr, Stanford walked to the State-Prison 
 for the j)urpose of examining two new schools, which, 
 added to those already organized, made at that time 
 seven schools in this prison, which were open only in 
 the evening, and found to be of great advantage to 
 the more ignorant prisoners. 
 
 Friday morning, '7tli. Mr. Stanford was sent for 
 to visit a dying woman in the Bridewell. lie 
 found her, and three others, in a wretched con- 
 dition, lying on the bare floor, with only a ragged 
 l)lanket for each, to shield them from the pierc- 
 ing cold. The physician who accompanied him,
 
 ANOTHER VICTIM OF SEDUCTION SAVED. 177 
 
 said, tliat tliis poor creature could not lon^' survive the 
 horrible eflbcts ol" her sinful course. The apartment 
 was so very offensive, that they were obliged to oj)en 
 the window while they remained. When Mr. Stan- 
 ford complained to the keeper concerning the destitute 
 state ol' these women, he said, he had no more co\ er- 
 ing in the house to give them. As a commiitee of 
 the Aldermen were to meet in the evening, Mr. Stan- 
 ford stated the case to them, and the next morning 
 they ordered the females to be provided with suitable 
 beds and bedding. Since this period, greater atten- 
 tion has been paid to the miserable inmates of the 
 I>ridewcll. 
 
 In the afternoon he went to the Statc-Piison. 
 Here he found the hospital crowded wiili the sick 
 and the dying. Five men were affected with a 
 very malignant fever, and the hall and wards were 
 go foul and disagreeable, owing to the prevailing dis- 
 ease, that it was diflicult to perform the usual service. 
 Ilespecting- this visit, he remarks: — " I know it is 
 hazardous to visit under such circum.stances, but the 
 Lord is my keeper, and my life is of little value ex- 
 cept thus to be employed for the benefit of others." 
 
 Tuesday, 2oth. This day he visited most of the 
 wards in the City-IIospital ; in one of which he found 
 a young female under deep penitence for her profli- 
 gate life; and there is great reason to hope that the 
 blessed Jesus, at whose feet 3Iary Magdalene did not 
 weep in vain, revealed his pardoning mercy to this 
 unhappy victim of seduction. 
 
 Conversion of R B , aged 19. 
 
 " This young woman was," says Mr. Stanford, 
 '• confined several months by consumption. From 
 my first visit she listened with attention, and confessed 
 that she had been a great sinner, and felt her heart 
 so very hard and obstinate, that she was alnu)st ready 
 to despair. Gradually, however, it ])leased the Lord
 
 178 CATECHISM FOR THE YOUNG PRISONERS. 
 
 to open to her tlie riches of grace in Christ the Re- 
 deemer. Tlie promises of divine mercy were recom- 
 mended to her attention, and in prayer she speedily 
 found access to the throne of grace. On one occasion 
 she said, 'I pray to the Lord night and day when my 
 pains abate — it is my only comfort and delight — I 
 have some liope that God will save me at last, through 
 Jesus Christ.' 
 
 "In the evening I called to see this young woman. 
 * Rachel,' said I, ' can you say. Father, vot my icil/, 
 but thine he doneT ' Sir,' she replied, ' I can do more 
 than that.' ' What is it r' ' Sir, I can feel it; 1 wait 
 for my Lord to come and take me, for I long to be 
 w ith him.' After prayer she thanked me for my visits 
 in so affecting a manner, that 1 was obliged to retire. 
 
 "On the next Saturday night she died, rejoicing in 
 Christ." 
 
 Tuesday, the 1st of February. This day Mr. 
 Stanford completed his Catechism for the unfortunate 
 youth in the State-Prison, and, by order of the Board 
 of Inspectors, he sent it to the press for publication. 
 
 The following Tuesday he visited every ward in the 
 City-Hospital, and prayed in eight of them. 
 
 On the 13th he remarks: — " I preached at eight 
 A. M. in the City-Hospital, and then visited and 
 prayed with a dying man. Directly after, I accom- 
 j)anied the Rev. Daniel Sharp, of Boston, to the State- 
 Prison chapel, where he ])rcachcd a sernion for me, 
 with groat acceptance to the prisoners. Visited the 
 sick in the prison hospital, and returned liome. Af- 
 ternoon, |)reached in the Debtor's chapel, and in the 
 evening at the Aims-House, and afterwards prayed 
 with dying persons in three diilerent wards. This to 
 me was a day of mercy, and I sincerely pray that it 
 may be I'uUowed with mercy to many others." 
 
 ^Vednesday, 23d, he spent three hours in the Alms- 
 llouse, with much satisfaction, ha\ ing found several
 
 TRIUMPIIS OF THE GOSPEL. 179 
 
 new cases, of persons under great concern for salva- 
 tion ; and others, waiting with cheerfidness for their 
 last change. 
 
 28th. 3Ir. Stanford employed the whole of this 
 day in examining the schools in the State-Prison, and 
 in placing before the minds of the nnhappy criminals, 
 the way of peace by the blood and righteousness of 
 Christ. 
 
 On the 3d of March he preached in the 3Iagdalen- 
 Ilouse, and also in the State-Prison. In the latter 
 place he found a female prisoner extremely ill, and 
 under awfid alarm concerning her future state. To 
 this unhap[)y creatiirc it is believed that the Lord 
 blessed his conversation as the means of inducing her 
 to look by faith to that adorable Saviour, who can 
 pluck the brand from the burning. 
 
 The conversion of N L . 
 
 In the upper ward, Mr. Stanford found three or 
 four females, very sensible of their sinful state, and 
 one white woman in particular. She expressed her- 
 self in terms which indicated a recent work of divine 
 mercy upon her heart. She blessed the Lord for her 
 affliction. God had convinced her of her great sin- 
 fulness, and led her to Jesus Christ as her Saviour, 
 by the application of whose blood she experienced 
 pardon and peace. She said that she was never so 
 happy before, and died that night, full of faith, hope, 
 and joy, in Jesus Christ. 
 
 After this, Mr. S. visited a sick prisoner in the 
 hospital, wiio was in a XQiy hardened and inij)enitent 
 state. These cases clearly illiistrale the sovereignty 
 of God in the gifts of divine grace — one is saved, 
 and another remains hardened in sin. 
 
 On the 4th, at ten o'clock in the morning, he went 
 to the Alms-llousc, and found that four of his charge 
 had died ; three of whom, expired in the triumphs of 
 faith iu Jesus Christ.
 
 180 OllDIXATION OF MK. ELLIOTT. 
 
 Oil the Gtli, wliich was the Sabbath, he })reached 
 in the City-liospital at eight o'clock in the morning, 
 and at halt* past ten in the church in Fayette-street. 
 At three o'clock in the afternoon he preached again 
 in the Debtor's-Prison, and in the evening at the 
 Alins-IIouse. Respecting this day's service he re- 
 marks : — " In the midst of weakness, temptation, 
 and fear, the Lord has mercifully helped me. But 1 
 was very much fatigued by w^alking to so many places. 
 Nevertheless, it is better to be tired in the work of 
 the Lord, than to be tired of it." Like Gideon and 
 his men, he was '■'■ Faint, yd pursuing.''^ 
 
 Wednesday, 9th. After having attended the Alms- 
 llouso in the morning, Mr. Stanford assisted in the 
 ordination of Mr. Elliott, at the Bethel church. The 
 whole of the service was performed with great solem- 
 nity, and the fervent prayer of many hearts ascended 
 to God, for a blessing upon the minister then set apart 
 to the work of the gospel. 
 
 Friday, 11th. This morning he was requested to 
 visit a dying man in the City-Hospital. It was truly 
 an allccting scene. Mr. Stanford had frequently 
 conversed and prayed with him, and a hope was in- 
 dulged that God would be gracious to his distressed 
 soul. This morning he found him, sensible, but 
 speechless. Mr. Stanford asked him if he were will- 
 ing to die, and felt in his heart a hope in Christ the 
 Lord? To which, with a smile, he bowed his head, 
 and lifted up his hanils toward heaven. Mr. S. 
 then prayed with him; after which he took his station 
 at a short distance from the bed of the dying man, for 
 the })urpose of addressing the other patients in the 
 room, on the important concerns of their souls, and 
 directing them to Jesus, the friend of sinners. " In 
 a few minutes," says Mr. Stanford, "I jierccived the 
 sick man undergoing his last change, and soon he 
 sunk in the arms of death. Though I have visited 
 the death beds of many hundred persons, this was the
 
 HORRIBLE CON.-JEQUF.NCES OF DEISM. 181 
 
 second person I ever saw in the act of dying. May 
 the impressions made upon my mind on this occasion, 
 assist me to keep the solemnities of deatii and eternity 
 in view !" 
 
 In the afternoon Mr. Stanford again visited the 
 Hospital, and spent two hours with the sick, among 
 whom there was an elderly man, who refused to permit 
 him to speak one word about Christ, and died the next 
 morning, unconscious of his sinfulness and danger. 
 
 The following is another instance of the horrible 
 consequences of deism, and recantation in the dying 
 hour. 
 
 " This morning,'' says Mr. Stanford, " I was re- 
 quested to visit a man supposed to be near death. 
 After tenderly inquiring about the state of his mind, 
 he replied, 'It is very easy — I know that there is one 
 (rod — I believe that there is a future state — I believe 
 God, when I die, will take my poor soul — I believe all 
 these.' — ' Do you know that you are a sinner, and that 
 you need mercy ?' * O, we are all sinners.' I assured 
 him that God could not save him at the expense of 
 divine justice. ' You and I,' said Mr. S. ' both stand in 
 need of a Saviour. God hath in mercy given his dear 
 Son, * ichosehlood dcanseth from all sin.'' And — ^ there 
 is none other name given under heaven, ulierehy ice may 
 be saved, but the tiame of the Lord Jesus ;' he is the 
 only Saviour.' To my great astonishment this man 
 rej)lied, ' I dont know any thing about him.' ' Then 
 it is high time you should know him. It is indeed an 
 encouragement that this Jesus is able and willing to 
 save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him, 
 and it becomes you, under your circumstances, to 
 pray to him for mercy.' I was equally surprised to 
 receive for answer — ' I never prayed in my life.' I 
 thought it my duty, solemnly to warn him of his dan- 
 ger. After which I prayed. 
 
 " At four o'clock I ordered the coachman to put 
 16
 
 182 RECANTATION. 
 
 me down at the Hospital gate, and I went into tlie 
 sick man's room ; but what was my ustonisliment, as 
 I looked around, to find both the man and the bed re- 
 moved. ' Nurse, what have you done with the pati- 
 ent ?' ' He is in the dead-liouse — he died at twelve 
 o'clock.' ' How did he die."'' Instead of giving me 
 a direct rej)ly, she informed mc, that soon after I left 
 liim in the morning, two of his friends had been to 
 visit him, and who informed her that he was a deist, 
 and had lived a very irregular life. ' But, nurse, 
 yon do not answer my question — iiow did he die ?' 
 ' Sir, when he knew he was going he cried loudly 
 enouirh to Jesus Chriat to save him — he died a coward 
 at last; and with his last breath renounced his former 
 infidelity.' " 
 
 Thursday, 17th. In the morning Mr. Stanford 
 preached in the Magdalen-House, and visited the 
 United States-Hos])ital. Going through tJie Slate- 
 Prison, he had an encouraging convers^ation with otic 
 of the i)risoners, who i)rofessed to have met with a 
 change of heart since he came to this dismal abode. 
 " O," says Mr. Stanford, " how rich the grace of 
 God, to find out such transgressors! and what an 
 encouragement is it for me to persevere in the service 
 of Christ!" 
 
 Wednesday, Mr. Stanford went to the State-Prison, 
 where he found a prisoner in the agonies of death. 
 After tenderly addressing him for a few moments, he 
 thought it prudent to desist, when, with a sepulchral 
 tone the dying man said, 'Go on.' He did so, and 
 concluded with jorayer. In about an hour after- 
 wards, the soul ol" this poor prisoner passed into the 
 eternal world. 
 
 Mr. Stanford employed a part of Friday, the 2oth, 
 in calling upon a t'v.w of his opulent friends, to solicit 
 their aid in furnishing the room employed as a chapel 
 in the Debtor's-Prison ; and in this enterprise he 
 succeeded beyond his expectations.
 
 CONVEKSION OF W. S. L. 383 
 
 On tho morning of t!ic third Sabbath in April, lie 
 ppi^ched to the state prisoners, what thoy were in the 
 luibit of calling, " A Jubilee Sermon," before the 
 annual season, when the governor of the state is 
 accustomed to pardon such individuals as may be 
 j)articularly recommended to his clemency. The text 
 was from Ezra i\. 8 — " Give us a little reviving in our 
 biimlage.^^ The afternoon was employed in preaching 
 and in visiting the sick ; and in the evening lie 
 preached a sermon to the poor in the Alms-llouse. 
 
 Tuesday, the 5th of 3Iay, he uttcndcd twelve wards 
 in the City-IIospital, and prayed in inost of them. 
 One of the patients expressed his thanks to God for 
 the hope of pardon, received under the sermon last 
 Sabbath morning. 
 
 The conversion of W. S. L . 
 
 " This young man," Mr. Stanford says, " had been 
 about two years in the Hospital. When I spoke to 
 him to-day, he said, ' 1 am not quite twenty-one years 
 of age, and perhaps I shall not live to get out. O, 
 Sir, I want to make my peace with God.' I directed 
 him to Christ, who lias made peace by the blood of 
 his cross ; and assured him, that Christ alone could 
 speak peace to his heart. He replied, ' Sir, this is 
 what 1 want, and for this I [)ray, but I never knew 
 or felt the necessity of this before, and I hope you 
 will pray for me, that the Lord may have mercy ou 
 me, a poor miserable creature. 1 am very dark in 
 my mind — my pain is distressing — lam so miserable 
 I can hardly I)ear myself.' I reminded him of the 
 greatness of God's compassion for the chief of sinners, 
 even at the latest hour. He wept, and replied, ' I am 
 not worthy of the mercy of God, nor the favour you 
 have shown me ; I have in my own heart thanked 
 you a thousand times.' I repeated the words of the 
 prophet — ' And yc shall seek me, and Jin d me, ivlien ye 
 shall search for me icith all your heart.' To which he
 
 18-4 SCHOOL IN THE HObPIlAL. 
 
 replied, ' I do seek the Lord with my whole heart ; I 
 have nothing- else to seek after, and there is nothing 
 1 want besides.' 
 
 " This service was not in vain in the Lord. A few 
 days after this I found him near his end. In broken 
 accents he said — ' J shall never see you again.' I 
 encouraged him to trust his soul and body to the 
 mercy of the Lord Jesus, who was able to support 
 him to the end. lie expressed his wish to say much 
 to me, but was unable. He exclaimed — ' Precious 
 Jesus I' 1 asked him if he had reason to believe that 
 Jesus was his Saviour f lie replied, ' He is my Sa- 
 viour for ever.' In about an hour after this he died, 
 rejoicing in the Loid." 
 
 The Tuesday following, Mr. Stanford visited all 
 the wards in the City-Hospital, conversing and pray- 
 ing with the sick. After this laborious day, he spent 
 the evening with one of the governors of the Hospital, 
 in forming a plan to give some education to the lame 
 children in the institution. This was subsequently 
 effected, and still continues to prove highly beneficial. 
 Tiie plan was very simple. 3Ir. Stanford appointed 
 their lessons on one visiting day, and heard tiiem 
 recite on the next. This system produced the liappy 
 effect, not only of tcjudiing them to read, but it kept 
 them still, and thus facilitated their cure. 
 
 After spending a part of Thursday in the ordinary 
 duties of his cbaplaincy, he visited tlie United States 
 Military-Hospital, and preached a sermon to the sick 
 and maimed soldiers. On this occasion he conversed 
 and prayed with a soldier apparently near death, and 
 who expressed much gratitude for his attentions. 
 " I must confess," he remarks, " that I llnd tliese 
 soldiers more grateful than many otiier people." 
 
 The following extract of a letter from ('olonel Col- 
 «len to Mr. Stanford, is ex|)ressive of the views which 
 were entertained of his services.
 
 COLONEL COLDEN. 185 
 
 ''Fort Gansevort, June 11///, 1814. 
 
 " IlEV. SIR, 
 
 " Pennit me, for myself, and in behalf of my regi- 
 ment, to return you thanks for tlie assistance you 
 have aiiortled iis. All <^oo(l men must unite in prayers, 
 tliat yon may he Xou'f, spared to discharge the pious 
 and arduous duties which you take upon yourself. 
 That you may he happy in this world, and that yoti 
 may meet the reward for which every zealous and 
 able servant in the Christian Church may hope. 
 " 1 amj Rev. Sir, 
 
 *' With great respect, 
 
 " Your obedient humble servant, 
 
 " CADWALLADER D. COLDEN." 
 
 The subjoined letter, is another evidence that his 
 gratuitous labours among the military were duly ap- 
 preciated. 
 
 " United States Muitari/-Hospital, Ch'eetun'cJi , 
 
 '' June 15th, 18U. 
 
 " SIR, 
 
 " The patients in the General Military-Hospital at 
 Greenwich, for themselves and those that have pre- 
 ceded them, beg leave respectfidly to address you, 
 previously to their final discharge from the United 
 States service. 
 
 " During two years your unremitted zeal for their 
 moral and religious welfare, has manifested itself in 
 the strongest possible light. Your kind and paternal 
 attention, which, without the slightest prospect of 
 reward, has so uniformly been evinced, will for ever 
 endear you to our memories. You have not ceased 
 to visit us, and admiaiister consolation in the most 
 inclement weather ; and often at the expense of your 
 own health. We regret that our only return is, that 
 of a grateful acknowledgment; be pleased, Sir, to» 
 
 16*
 
 186 CHAPEL IN THE DEBTOK's-PRISON. 
 
 believe, that return, though humble, to be sincere. 
 The remembrance of your disinterested kindness will 
 remain with us through life, and descend with us to 
 our graves. Accept, Sir, our warmest and most 
 affectionate prayers for your happiness. 
 
 " In behalf of the patients, 
 " SIMON CRYGIER, 
 " GEORGE THATCHER. 
 ' DANIEL PARMER." 
 
 On Friday morning he visited three rooms in th(; 
 Bridewell, in which were a number of miscrabh; 
 women, very sick with what is called " the jail dis- 
 temper." He found most of them in a state of 
 deplorable insensibility of mind, ignorant of Christ, 
 and without hope in the world. To them he preached 
 repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord .Tcsus 
 Christ, as the only liope of the guilty. The ministry 
 of Mr. Stanford was generally characterized by what 
 is called, ' doctrinal orthodoxy,' but while it is true, 
 that he delighted to expitiatc upon the sovereignty of 
 God, still his frequent theme was — 
 
 " Come, all ye vilest .siiiner.=, come. 
 He'll ibriu your sotils anew; 
 His gospel and h'la liCart have room, 
 For rebels svicli as you." 
 
 In the evening he preached in the Alms-IIouse, to a 
 large collection of poor, n)any of whom wore earnestly 
 seeking the salvation of their souls. 
 
 " Wliile grace is ofTur'd to the prince. 
 The poor may take their share; 
 Ni) mortal has a just pretence 
 To pori.sh in dc.sj)air.'' 
 
 On the morning of the 24th, he prenched in the 
 f'ity-llospital, and in the ufternoon he opened tin; 
 new chapel in the Debtor's-Prison. It was formed
 
 COLD WATER TUAfcTi. 187 
 
 by throwing two rooms into one ; and was provldeJ 
 with a convenient ilcsk, books, scats, ttc. all of wiiich 
 Mr. Stanford procured by subscriptions anion*^ his 
 personal friends. 
 
 The prisoners confined in the debtor's apartments 
 havinj^ been handsomely entertained by the sherill", 
 .Mr. Ilui^gles Hubbard, and Mr. .J. L. 13ell, on the an- 
 niversary of the fourth day of Jidy, 1311; though it 
 i:« believed they had no wine, yet among other senti- 
 ments uttered 0:1 that occasion, they gave the follow- 
 ing cold water toasts, as an ex|)ression of their high 
 res|)ect for the gentlemen named. 
 
 " The humane sherilf, (lluggles Hubbard,) who 
 prefers the interest of his prisoners to his own emolu- 
 ment. 
 
 " The Rev. Jolin Stanford, the philanlhropist, 
 who searches the dreary dungeon to proclaim the free 
 grace of his blessed Redeemer to his brothers in 
 adversity. May the ministers of the gospel in thin 
 city learn to do likewise." 
 
 On the morning of the 9th, Mr. Stanford received 
 a special invitation to attend the annual meeting of 
 the trustees and patrons of the New-- York Free- 
 School, and introduce the exercises with prayer. A 
 very numerous assembly of our most respectable 
 citizens were convened on the occasion. From thence 
 he went to the Aims-House, where he found a woman, 
 aged seventy-one, who was then dying; but in a state 
 of fnindthe most enviable. Behind the cloud of death, 
 she saw, by taith, the Sun of Righteousness, and 
 j)ant(!d for the hour to depart. Respecting this cast; 
 he says : — " 1 have seldom met with a person so near 
 to death, with a mind more calm and devout.'' In 
 another ward was a female with whom he had often 
 conversed al)out ihe subject of her salvation. Death 
 had already commenced his work ; her eye lolled, and 
 her lips cpiivered, under the struggle; but her faith in 
 Jesus was triumphant. After prayer, she ^aid : — .
 
 188 ' SCHOOLS EXAMINED. 
 
 " Lord, carry me safely through. Tiiou wilt not 
 forsake mc: I shall soon be with thee." 
 
 " The righteous hath hope in his death." 
 
 O , a prisoner, died on the 18th, and 
 
 I have reason," says Mr. Stanford, *' to believe he 
 had been a partaker of the grace of God. In death, 
 his faith was firm in the I^ord, and his prospects 
 bright for eternity. O how do such instances of 
 sovereign mercy, magnify the grace of Cod." , 
 
 The morning of the VJth was employed in examin- 
 ing the schools in the State-Prison. They were 
 convened in the cliapel, amounting in the whole to 
 Jifty-eii^lit scholars. Their examination in reading, 
 writing, arithmetic, catechism, &.c. gave great satis- 
 faction to the inspectors, and much credit to the 
 teachers. After the exercises, which lasted three 
 hours, Mr. Stanford delivered an address to the 
 assembly, and concluded with prayer. 
 
 He commenced the services of the month following, 
 by a long visit to most of the wards in the Alms- 
 1 louse. " It is truly gratif}ing," he says, " to find 
 so many who are immersed in poverty, searching 
 after the durable riches of divine grace. O that the 
 Spirit of the Lord might make them rich in faith, and 
 heirs of the kingdom of God." 
 
 The afternoon was spent with the board of inspec- 
 tors on prison business; and the evening, by preach- 
 ing in the Alms-IIouse. 
 
 On the following day Mr. Stanford again visited 
 the Military-Hospital, and preached a sermon; after 
 which he conversed particularly with each individual. 
 Amongst them he found one man under deep concern 
 of mind, who wept bitterly, and seemed overwhelmed 
 with a sense of his sins. To this mourning sinner he 
 preached salvation through the blood of Christ, after 
 which prayer was made unto God for him. 
 
 The next visit was to the sick in the Statc-Prisou,
 
 THE TEMTTED ^t^TRA.NGER. 169 
 
 hospital ; liore 3Ir. Stanford convcrseil with a bliick 
 tiuiu, supposed to be dyin<^. He suffered great pain, 
 bat liis heart was hlh;d with love to GuA, and he was 
 anxiously waiting tor the moment of final victory over 
 death and the grave, through faith in tiie atoning 
 blood of Christ. 
 
 After this visit Mr. Stanford remarks : — " O huw 
 good it is — how blessed the employment, to labour 
 for the present and etx;rnal benefit of immortal souls." 
 
 On Tuesday, the l-lth, he joassed his usual rounds 
 among the sick in the City-Hospital; and in the 
 evening he preached a sermon in the Mulhcrry-strt^ct 
 meeting-house, on the subject of educating pious 
 \oung men for the gosjjel ministry. This discourse 
 was afterwards printed by the Baptist J/iterary and 
 Theological Society of the State of New-York. 
 
 On Thursday morning, while walking out of the 
 city to perform his usual service at the State-Prison, 
 he was overtaken by a young gentleman, with whom 
 lie entered into conversation upon the subject of the 
 Christian religion. After discovering great diffidence, 
 the young gentleman, (a stranger to Mr. S.) proceeded 
 to make the following remarks : — " O, Sir, for several 
 years have 1 been the victim of very strong and awful 
 temptations, which, however, I could never lind cour- 
 age to communicate to my pious |)arents, or lo any 
 other |)erson ; but as I feel great confidence in your 
 paternal sympathy, if you will permit, I will give you 
 an account of my case." Mr. Stanford having a.-- 
 sured him of his readiness, not only to hear, but to 
 afford him such advice as the nature of the case de- 
 manded, the young man proceeded, with flowing 
 tears, to unbosom himself. The case was very inte- 
 resting, and awfully illustrative of the imminent 
 danger to which unwary youth are exposed in a city 
 like this. After giving suitable instruction and en- 
 couragement to the troubled conscience, Mr. S. jnuted 
 with this tempted stranger, whose expressions uj"
 
 190 LETTER TO MR. W. S. 
 
 gratitude afford conclusive evidence, that young per- 
 sons especially, might often derive great assistance 
 under their temptations and other trials, by seeking 
 the counsel of age and experience. 
 
 The affecting case referred to in the following letter, 
 may serve as a commentary upon the adage — "Youth 
 wants a guide." It is not to be controverted, that 
 where sentiments of jjiety are early impressed upon 
 the human mind, they generally form the basis 
 of respectability in the present life, and greatly 
 tend to prepare for the consummation of bliss in 
 the world to come. But it is equally indisputable, 
 that thousands of unsuspecting youth of both sexes> 
 who leave tiie paternal roof, fortified by habits of in- 
 dustry and early religious instruction; and followed 
 by the prayers of anxious friends, have nevertheless 
 become the victims of those multiform temptations 
 which, in a populous city, assail them, almost at 
 every step. In many instances they might have been 
 delivered from evil, if, when coming to the city, they 
 had been specially introduced by a letter from 
 their parents, or from the clergyman of the village, 
 to the attention of some pious friend, who would have 
 watched for their good. 
 
 Letter to 3Ir. W****** S*****. 
 
 ''Xcw-Yorh, July, 1814. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, 
 
 " That mnn is horn to trouble as the sparks fly 
 upward, is not only a fact recorded in the scri|)tures, 
 but it stands iuscril>ed upon the history of the world. 
 Those afflictions which may be denominated peculiar, 
 sometimes arise from our social connections, and never 
 fail to be doubly severe to the heart of a parent, on 
 witnessing tin; disol)edi<!nce of a favourite child. 
 Though, perhaps, nrdiuown to you even by name, \ 
 esteem it a duty to otler my condolence on the painful
 
 I.ETTJ.R TO Inn. \V. 5-'. 119 
 
 infornmtion you may have received of the misfortunes 
 of your ^rand-son, IJ F. K . 
 
 "The circumstances whicii led to idv fust interview 
 with the truly unhappy youth, was, my visiting a 
 dying woman in the City-Jail; at which time tke 
 keeper informed me that lie had a lad of respectable 
 connections under his charge, who, on his own confes- 
 sion, was in a few days to he sentenced for forging a 
 note of lifty dollars. On expressing my regret, and 
 a wish to see him, the keeper kindly bronght him to 
 see me in the front ollice. The interview was affect- 
 ing. He, with many tears, gave me a general account 
 of his transgressions, justilied his prosecutors, and 
 condemned himself, as deserving the expected punish- 
 ment. The apprehension that information of his con- 
 duct would be communicated to his father and grand- 
 father, added to the keenness of his sorrow. Indeed, 
 Sir, I could not refrain from weeping over the misery 
 of one so young, so fali(Mi and miserable. I informed 
 him that 1 was the chaplain of the State-Prison, 
 and gave him my best advice how to conduct himself, 
 should the sentence of the law consign him to that 
 dreary abode; for which he appeared to be thankiui. 
 
 '' The day before tiie sentence, I mentioned the 
 expected arrival of isenjamin, to tiie agent, the keeper, 
 and to two physicians, expressing my wish, that as 
 the health of the youth re(piired medical aid, he should 
 not immediately be put to labour. 
 
 " Tiie next day the lion. De Witt Clinton, the 
 Mayor of the City, pronounced the sentence, for the 
 term of seven i/ears oi\\y ; the shortest period of which 
 the law adnjits in his cas(;. 
 
 " On the following Lord's day, 1 saw your poor 
 Benjamin in the chapel. My heart yearned over him. 
 For his sake, as well as otheis, I |)reachcd a sermon 
 from Psalm Ixxix. 8, 1). 
 
 " On this peculiarly jjainful event, I am disposed 
 to say : — From your knowledge of human life, von are
 
 192 LETTER TO MR. W. S. 
 
 ronviiicc'd of a superintending Providence, and tiinl 
 (iod not unfreqiiently glorifies the riches of hi? grace 
 hy reclaiming t!ie prodigal son. Benjamin, I presume, 
 had gone great lengths in folly, considering his tender 
 rears. His errors must deeply afflict the feelings of 
 his friends; yet, as he remarked, his present suffering 
 may eventually preserve him from rushing, if possible, 
 into more fatal snares. So far as it relates to myself, 
 I shall endeavour to afford the unfortunate youtli 
 my best advice during his confinement. As to your- 
 self and family, this aflVictive event, I hope, will teacli 
 you that there is no rose without thorns ; and 
 that the interruptions which take place in our social 
 connections, painful as they may be, should lead us to 
 desire that substantial felicity, which alone is to be 
 found in the bosom of the God of mercy. 
 
 " ' Children and friends are blessings too, 
 If God the Lord will niuke lliem so.' 
 
 " It cannot be presumed that you will altogether 
 abandon your unfortunate grandson. Our betievolent 
 Saviour forbids it. '7 iras sicf:, and in prison, and 
 yc viaitcd mrJ' Whether you do this in person, or by 
 any of your family, or neighbours ; if such will call upon 
 me, and my engagements permit, I will conduct them 
 to the dreary abode. If it be preferable to write, I 
 have no objection to hold an occasional correspon- 
 dence with tlie family, in reference to the lad; for un- 
 less by particidar favour, he will not be allowed paper 
 to write more than once in six months. However, 
 should you, or any of the family write, while just re- 
 proof amy be given to your disobedient child, let jus- 
 tice be blended with compassion. 
 
 " With sincere sympathy, 
 
 " 1 am your's in the gospel, 
 
 " JOHN STANFORD " 
 
 A review of the labours, of Mr. Stanford during the
 
 RIOT IN THE ."^TATE-PUI.SOX. 193 
 
 year pnst, althongli only a few sliort extracts have 
 been given from liis diary, presents so far as his 
 ministry is concerned, one nninterrupted scene of 
 prosperity. Sonls were converted through his in- 
 strumentality — j)ubhc confidence in ins piety, abilities, 
 and diligence, became more and more established — 
 and the sj)iritnal interests of the various institutions 
 committed to his care, were greatly promoted. 
 
 It is an interesting fact, stated by Mr. Roome, the 
 keeper of the Slate-Prison, that such was the influence 
 which the evident piety, and patriarchal dignity of Mr. 
 ►Stanford gave him over the minds of all the prisoners, 
 that during the riot wiiich occurred in 1818, the ap- 
 pearance of Mr. S. at one of the windows, produced 
 a greater effect on the minds of the rioters, than the 
 ai)pearance of the soldiers upon the prison walls. One 
 of them was heard to say, " Let Father Stanford come 
 out into the yard ; there is not a man of us who would 
 not stand between him and a bullet." When other 
 ministers preached in the chapel, the prisoners fre- 
 (juently discovered great uneasiness; and the more 
 hardened among them, would sometimes disturb the 
 speaker by rattling tlieir chains, and coughing, or 
 scraping their feet on the floor; but when " Father 
 Stanford" occupied the j)ulpit, no congregation could 
 behave with greater propriety. They seemed to 
 hang uj)on the lips of the speaker, delighted and 
 instructed, penetrated and awed, by his simplicity 
 and evangelical pathos. The same may be said in 
 relation to the inmates of the Bridewell, Blackwell's 
 Island, and other places, where the vicious and profli- 
 gate heard him preach the gospel. Those who were 
 not brought under the saving influence of the gracC 
 of God, were constrained to assume, at least while in 
 his presence, a decent exterior. This probably arose 
 from the fact, that, in no small degree, like the 
 pious Mr. Shepherd, he could say, " I never preached 
 a sermon which did not cost me pravers and tears 
 
 17
 
 194 MR. STANFORD IN THE PULI'IT. 
 
 in composing it; and I never went up to the pulpit, 
 but as if going up to give an account of my conduct." 
 Mr. Stanford was indeed a man of prayer, and its 
 Ijallowing influence was felt by the congregations to 
 whom he j)reached. When we have beheld him in 
 the pulpit, the words of Cowper have always seemed 
 to bo peculiarly applicable. 
 
 " There stands the messenger of irutli I there stands 
 The legate of tJie skies! — His tlienie divine, 
 His office sacred, his credentials clear. 
 By him the violated law speaks out 
 Its tlmnders; and by him, in strains as sweet 
 As angels use, the gospel whispers peace. 
 He 'stablishes tlie strong, restores the weak, 
 Reclaitiis the wanderer, binds the broken hearty 
 And, arin'd hiaiself in panoply complete 
 Of heavenly temper, furnishes with arms 
 Bright as his own, and trains, by every rule 
 Of" holy discipline, to glorious war. 
 The sacramental host of God's elect '"
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 INTERESTING AND SUCCT.SSFbL SERVICES IN THE PL'BLFC 
 INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 In the early part of 1815, the heart of Mr. Stanford 
 seems to have been particularly directed to seek the 
 Lord by fasting and prayer, for wisdom and strength, 
 to perform the duties devolving upon him. He com- 
 menced his labours for the month, by visiting most of 
 tlie wards in the City-Hospital, during the morning of 
 Friday; and in the evening he preached in the Aims- 
 House to a large and attentive audience. Although 
 his diary records no very remarkable incidents during 
 this month, it is nevertheless gratifying to trace the 
 tlaily course of the good man in his unremitted la- 
 bours from early dawn till evening shade. It may 
 witii truth be said, that the rising and the setting sun 
 found him always at his post, and either actually 
 employed, or preparing for action. It was owing to 
 this fact, that Mr. Stanford was enabled to perform 
 an amount of service which was a subject of aston- 
 ishment and admiration, to all who were familiar 
 with his life. 
 
 It is recorded of the prince of painters, w ho llour- 
 ished under the reign of Alexander the Great, that 
 when his royal patron one day inquired of him how it 
 was, that he could execute so many beautiful and 
 tinished pictures, the artist rejjlied : " Nullus dies, 
 sine linea." If it be asUcd, how a man labouring 
 under great bodily infirmities, such as would have 
 entirely dis(jualified most other men, could perform 
 his various duties, as chaplain in no less than nine 
 public institutions, embracing nearly three thousand
 
 19G DEATH OF MRS. ISABELLA GRAHAM. 
 
 souls; besides, frequently preaching in the pulpit? 
 of different denominations — vi^^iting the poor and 
 the sick not immediately under his care — maintain- 
 ing an extensive correspondence — publishing seve- 
 ral volumes, and about lifty tracts and sermons, — 
 having nearly an equal amount of literary and theo- 
 logical manuscripts in a state of progress for future 
 publication, — the answer is, like Aj^clles, he permitted 
 no day to pass unimproved. It seems to have been 
 a part of his religion, conscientiously, and at the aj)- 
 pointcd time, to discliarge llie u])proi)riate duties of 
 every hour. 
 
 On Thursday the "23111 of July, he thus writes: — 
 " This has been a solemn day! The Lord h;is been 
 pleased by deatii to call to himself, Mrs. Isabella 
 Graham, the pious and well known friend of the poor 
 and needy. I visited her daughter, Pdrs. llethunc, 
 in the morning, and after some consoling advice, we 
 went into the adjoining room to see the corpse, and 
 to offer the prayer of sidimission to the Lord our God." 
 
 The same morning, Mr. Stanford preached in the 
 Military-Hos|)ital, and was informed that one of the 
 soldiers had died three days before, but he was happy 
 in the Lord Jesus. 
 
 As he was leaving the building one of the soldiers 
 requested the fa\our of a few minutes conversation. 
 " Sir," said he, " 1 was brought up a Protestant. 
 Some years since I made a voyage to (/adiz, in which 
 place I was afilicted with severe fits. A Iloman (yatho- 
 lic priest was sent for, who said, ' If to-morrow yoji 
 will attend me and make conliiission, I will give you ab- 
 solution, and your hts will not again return.' 1 did so; 
 but the priest informed m(; that if I (urned away fVom 
 the Roman Catholic Church, my fits would return. 
 Now, Sir, I wish to know if this will prevent nie from 
 ])cing a Protestant still, for 1 am much distressed.''" 
 To this Mr. Stanford rejjlied, " I am sorry you were 
 so ignorant as to believe that the [)riest could forgive
 
 A SUUDE.N DKATil. l97 
 
 your sins, or cure your litrf. But you must ronietnljcr 
 that yoii and tlio priest arc both poor sinners, ami 
 need a Saviour; and 1 |)ray the Lord to convince you 
 of your need ol" lilin, and, that witliout his mercy and 
 grace neitiier of you can he happy in Hfe, in death, 
 or in eternity." Tiie poor fellow api)eared very 
 thoughtful, and thanked Mr. S. for the instruction 
 that had been imparted." 
 
 Tiie case of L B . 
 
 This young man was t'nc son of respectable parents; 
 he was classically educated, and inherited a large 
 estate, which he had subse(iuently dissipated at 
 the shrine of Bacchus. A course of profligacy pro- 
 duced diseases which not only brought him to the 
 Hospital, but terminated in his dissolution. When 
 ■Mr. Stanford visited this jicrson, he answered him 
 very abruptly, and proceeded sternly to address him 
 in Latin. To this Mr. S. rc|)lied. The young man 
 then pctulently commenced a discussion of some im- 
 portant points in divinity, in a manner so theoretically 
 correct, as to prove that he was not ignorant of the 
 Bible. But, he died without giving any evidence of 
 conversion to God. Such cases speak to survivors 
 in a warning voice, not to be misunderstood. Let 
 youth of talents and property, fly from sin, which is 
 alike ruinous to their temporal and eternal interests. 
 
 Wednesday. Just before his arrival at the Alms- 
 I louse, one of the servants, supjjosed to be in good 
 health, drop[)cd on the floor, and in a few minutes his 
 soul took wing for eternity. This sudden death made 
 a serious impression upon many of tiie poor, and 3Ir. 
 Stanford, availed himself of this favourable opportu- 
 nity to prcai h to them from the words of David — 
 " There is but a step heliceen me and deaths 
 
 Tluirsday. On his way to the Hospital, Mr. Stan- 
 ford met two men, who had just been liberated from 
 the State-Prison, by a special pardon from the gover- 
 
 17*
 
 198 FUNERAL OF MRS. ISABELLA GRAHAM. 
 
 nor ; one of them said, " Sir, when I was sent to tliat 
 place, I was so thoughtless and hardened, that I knew 
 not that I had a soul, but now I know that I have a 
 guilty soul, saved by a precious Christ. O, blessed 
 be God for his mercy, and for permitting me to hear 
 the gospel from your lips. Do, Sir, pray for me, that 
 I may be kept in his fear, and I shall not forget to 
 pray for you as long as I live." 
 
 Another j)erson liberated from the State-Prison, 
 called upon JMr. Stanford a few days after this, to 
 express his gratitude. He professed to have received 
 the knowledge and enjoyment of the Saviour during 
 his imprisonment, and said he was resolved, by the 
 assistance of God, to bring up his nine children, in 
 the fear of the Lord, lie also proposed to publish, 
 at his own expense, a short history of his conversion, 
 for the benefit of others. 
 
 Soon after this, two other persons from the same 
 place, called to exprc ss their thanks to Mr. Stanford, 
 for his paternal kindness to them while in prison. 
 To these men he gave further religious instruction, 
 and some tracts to carry home to their families. 
 
 In the afternoon, he accompanied the remains of 
 Mrs. Graham to the family vault, where she now 
 rests until the morning of the resurrection. 
 
 The following Thursday, Mv. Stanford, by appoint- 
 ment, attcrided at the ]M:igdalcn-lfoMF;o, to deliver a 
 funeral sermon on the death of Mrs. Graham, who 
 Avas first directress of that institution. The text was, 
 " i, Deborah, arose a mother in Israel.'''' 5m\i:[,c& v. 7, 
 
 On closing the services for the first Sabbatii in 
 August, he remarks: — " This day is to be remem- 
 bered, for the pains of my body, the depression of (ny 
 mind, and the merciful supports of my («od." After 
 labouring with great assiduity during this month, he 
 succeeded in engaging the services of other ministers 
 to supply the public institutions during his absence ; 
 and once more, sou"ht to retrieve Iiis exhausted
 
 CONVERSION OF G. B. 199 
 
 Strength, by a visit to the country. During this ex- 
 cursion, he preached three times at Poughkeepsie ; 
 and, to use his own words, he returned home on tlie 
 following week, more anxious than ever, to pursue 
 the work, to which God had called hini, amongst the 
 poor and destitute of New- York. 
 
 September, 1815. His next visit to the State-Prison 
 hospital was rendered peculiarly pleasant, by finding 
 several of the men under very great concern of mind, 
 and anxiously inqiiiriug what they must do to be 
 saved. In the hospital he found one man, whose in- 
 teresting case is described in the following brief nar- 
 rative. 
 
 Conversion of G 15 . 
 
 " Coining out of the medical oilice," says Mr. 
 Stanford, " I was requested to visit two sick jirisoners, 
 in an adjoining room. The first I conversed with did 
 not apj)ear very sensible of his miserable condition, or 
 at least was not disposed to confess it. I then went 
 to the other, G. IJ. He said : — ' Sir, 1 am very low, 
 and do not ex|)ect to live; but, though 1 have been 
 one of the worst of sinners, God has showed me mercy 
 in Jesus Christ, and I am quite reconciled to die. I 
 have hope that my poor soul will be saved by the 
 grace of God, through .Jesus Christ, and 1 am very 
 thankfid indeed.' I congratidated iiim on the hajjpi- 
 ness he enjoy(»l amidst the gloom of this prison, and 
 in the prospect of death and eternity. V/hen he had 
 wiped away his tears, he further remarked: — ' Sir, I 
 do not think you know me.' 1 answered, that having 
 so many to visit in this house, 1 certainly did not re- 
 collect his person. ' Vou will remember. Sir,' he 
 said, ' that in November two years ago, you were sent 
 for to visit C 11 ,* who, with others, were 
 
 * It was late at night in 1811, when IMr. Roome sent a nies-jcnger to 
 request 3Ir. Stanford to visit C 11 . The darkness of the niglit,
 
 200 A BRAND PLUCKED OUT OF THE FIRE. 
 
 lying in the chapel, sick with fever. I am sure lie died 
 a happy man. My dear Mr. Stanford, though it has 
 been so long ago, there has not been a week, but that 
 1 have remembered his words, and your prayer, that 
 we miserable creatures might have the salvation of 
 God. Since I have been ill, I have sought the Jiord, 
 and he has given me peace in Christ. 1 hope you will 
 not go away till you have prayed for me and my fellow- 
 prisoner in the other be(l.' After prayer, and a few 
 additional remarks, I retired, but with such emotions 
 of heart as my pen cannot describe. He died the 
 next day, perfectly composed ; he had no fear of death, 
 and gave himself up to the Lord as his Saviour. Was 
 not this ' a brand plucked out of Ike JireT " 
 
 October Gth. In the morning Mr. Stanford visited 
 several rooms in the Aims-House; conversed and 
 prayed with the sick and the aged. Here he found 
 several persons under very serious impressions about 
 the state of their souls. 
 
 The Thursday following he delivered a sermon to 
 the females in the State-Prison, on the death of S. 
 
 S , who had died a few moments after he left 
 
 her, on the preceding Thursday. The text was — 
 " Boast not thyself of to-morroic ; for thou hnovest hot 
 what a day may bring forth.'''' Proverbs xxvii. I. 
 The female prisoners were very serious and attentive. 
 
 P S , an elderly man whom he had fre- 
 quently visited, and who had for many weeks been 
 lingering on the verge of the grave, presented to Mr. 
 
 the <;looni of the pluco, with liore niul tlicrca f^hininering lamp, produced 
 pciiHiiliiius to wliichlic had not hcloro hccii afrii.stoiiicd. " Sir," naid the 
 thing iniMi, " I Jiave sent for you, to tell you the sijilc of my mind, and to 
 aik you to pray for m(! onre more l)e("ore I (He. 1 liavo Ijeeii a very 
 nicked tiiimi,-r, and my allhctions are just. The Lord has sliovvn me the 
 evils ol" my hie, hul tii(! mercy oCCJhrist is great to me, and I am wiihng 
 to die. Your sermons have oft(!n touclicd my Iieart, and I am glad tliai 
 you are come, that I may thank you for your kind altenlioiiH to lis, poor 
 pr^oncf ."' lie died next day, rejoicing in the Lord,
 
 IXTERESTIXG CAJ^KS. 201 
 
 Stanford the followiiiii^ statcinciit of liis ]io|)cs for 
 eternal bliss : — "In myself [ ani a condemned worth- 
 less shiner, and totally lost — 1 justly deserve the 
 wrath of God, hut the Lord enables me to look for 
 mercy throu<(h the Saviour ; on his blood alone do I 
 rest for |)ardon, and hope for acceptance in his riiih- 
 teousness, in the ^reat day of judgment — [ have xery 
 little expectation of recoveiy — 1 am patiently waiting- 
 for the time when the Lord will call me to himself." 
 
 Friday, October 2'id. This day's visit to the Alm.=- 
 Ilouse was attended with very interesting circniii- 
 stances. One woman, who anxiously desired to see 
 ^Ir. Stanford, said, " I have been \ery wicked. I 
 catinot live long. I wish to have j)eace with God." 
 She was accordingly directed to the great Peace- 
 Maker, Jesus Christ; and, his ability to save the chief 
 of sinners was fully ex|)lained to her. " After prayer, 
 which," 3Ir. S.says, "1 never allowed myself to omit," 
 she bitterly lamented her sinful and wretched condi- 
 tion, and cried for mercy through the blood of Christ. 
 
 " No. 36 is inhabited by twelve very aged females, 
 only two of whom are able to leave the room. One 
 of tliem, with a cheerful countenance, said : — ' I cannot 
 stand ; but then there are others so very kind to me, 
 that they carry me in their arms, to the rooms where 
 worship is to be performed.' O how delightful it is to 
 find such evidences of kindness in this desolate place." 
 One very aged woman in this ward, who was dying, 
 said: — " God has taught me from my youth, he has 
 kept, and provided for me, to old age ; and I am the 
 least deserving of all his creatures. ]5ut ' / /iuoic 
 Ihat vijj Redeemer livetli,'' he is still faithful and kind. 
 ]My greatest burden is, that my love and gratitude to 
 him arc so very cold." 
 
 Wednesday, 8th. Mr. Stanford spent several hours 
 in one of the men's wards at the Alms-Ifonsc. There 
 was, in the minds of several persons, a great concern 
 for salvation.
 
 202 IMPROVEMENTS IN BRIDEWELL. 
 
 That Mr. Stanford's labours amon^ the poor and 
 wretched of our city was a work of pure benevolence, 
 rather than the dull routine of prescribed duties, may 
 be inferred from the fact, that he omitted no means of 
 promoting, at once their temporal and their eternal 
 interests. The following extract from his diary is so 
 truly characteristic, that we shall give it in his own 
 words. 
 
 " Monday, November IJtIi. Attended the Bride- 
 well. A new keeper having taken charge of the 
 c-tablishment, I found it necessary to ofter him some 
 advice, as to the means of preserving the cleanliness 
 and health of the prisoners, by appropriating a room 
 for the sick, &;c. These suggestions he received with 
 ])lcasure, and promised to adopt them. As this new 
 keeper and myself, have made an agreement to assist 
 each other in our respective duties, I hope the Lord 
 will enable us materially to improve the criminal de- 
 partment." 
 
 " Tuesday, 28th. Attended a miserable woman 
 jn Bridewell, sick with the small-pox. She having 
 no other bed than the hard floor, I thought it a duty 
 to go to the Alms-IIouse myself, and provide her with 
 bed and bedding." 
 
 " Friday, December 1st. AVent to Reed-fit rect to 
 see a man sent out of the hospital as incurable. I 
 think 1 shall have reason to rejoice in this man's sal- 
 vation." 
 
 " JiOrd's tlay, 3fl. Preached four times. Morning 
 at the City-llospital autl State-Prison. \'isited the 
 sick. A!t(,'rn()ou, again at the State-Prison. More 
 than usual satisfaction in this service, which appear.^ 
 to have been usefid to one of the principal olHcers of 
 the institutions. Attended a funeral. Evening 
 preached at the Alms-IFouse ; and afterwai'ds went to 
 the up[)('r ward of the houte to pray with two dying 
 |)ersons." 
 
 " Monday, 4th. Mr, Shcrifi' Bell accompanied me
 
 HIS LABOURS BLESSED. 203 
 
 to the Bridewell to take cliargcof twoof the unhappy 
 men, under sentence of death." 
 
 " Tliursday, 28th. 31orning, attended my usual 
 service in the Orphan Asylum ; afterwards preached 
 in the State-Prison, and visited the sick. To-day 
 eighteen down with the small-jiox." 
 
 On the following morning he went to the City- 
 Hospital, where, in one of the wards, he found a little 
 group of patients, reading, and conversing ahout the 
 lJil)le. Some of them were under serious impressions 
 of mind; and to several, the word of God had 
 hecome the word of life.. Here he remarks: — "I 
 found great encouragement when I heard, that the 
 Lord had hlcssed my feeble efforts to their instruction 
 and comfort; and in the most tender and faithful 
 manner of which I was capable, I exhorted them to 
 cleave unto the Lord; and left them with prayer." 
 He found a similar state of things in the Aims-House ; 
 many of the poor occupants aj)peared unusually de- 
 sirous of instruction, and entreated him to pray for 
 
 their souls. Amongst them there was a Mrs. C , 
 
 aged seventy-three. She was a native of Holland, 
 but had resided many years in America. A variety 
 of adverse providences had reduced her from affluence 
 to j)Overty ; but of her it might truly be said, she is 
 " rich in faith." Her heart seemed to be filled with 
 the love of Christ; and amid all the infirmities and 
 pains of old age, she was patiently waiting for the 
 coming of the Lord. 
 
 On the Tuesday following, he visited eight wards 
 in the City-Hospital. Among the patients he found 
 two men under very serious impressions of mind ; 
 and one in ])articular had obtaiiu'd a scri])tural view 
 of Christ, and the way of salvation tlirough his 
 blood. The usual evening lecture in the Alms-Housc 
 was in a peculiar manner blessed to the souls of the 
 people. 
 
 Another good day's wouk. Thursdav, 2i)th-
 
 204 ANOTHER GOOD DAY'rf WORK. 
 
 Early in the morning he visited a dying woman at 
 Greenwich. Afterwards performed his usual service 
 in the 3Iagdalen-House, at which some of the mana- 
 gers were present. Immediately after this he walked 
 to the United States Military-Hospital, conversed 
 '\vith the sick soldiers, individually ; and then, taking 
 his stand in the door so that he might be heard in the 
 adjoining rooms, he preached a sermon. Having an 
 hour to spare before dinner, he visited the sick in the 
 hospital of Colonel Colden's regiment, and offered 
 prayer. In the afternoon he delivered two sermons 
 in the State-Prison, and visited the sick. After this, 
 he walked home, a distance of nearly two miles, grate- 
 ful for so many mercies, and earnestly imploring the 
 blessing of God upon the labours of the day. 
 
 The day following he preached y/ir scrmuns, in the 
 State-Prison, Hospital, and Alms-IIouse, and visited 
 the sick in three diiferent rooms in Bridewell; where, 
 he says, " I never knew so many sick at one time, in 
 this place of confinement." In one of them there 
 were ten black women, all of them down with typhus 
 fever. The room was extremely offensive, ami the 
 groans and cries of these miserable creatures were so 
 j)iercing, that it was with difficulty he could sutfici- 
 i-ntly compose his mind to perform the duty of 
 prayer. They were indeed very sick ; but it is to be 
 lamented, that none appeared sick of sin, or were 
 willing to hear of a heavenly i)hysician. So true is it, 
 " //.///, and I make ulivc.''^ God must wound the soul, 
 or it will never seek a cure. 
 
 Tuesday, the 11th, he made his usual visit to the 
 (yity-Hospital. '* Among the j)atients," he says, " I 
 j)ickcd up a man who had tried to be a deist, but now 
 liis conscience would not let him. Almost deprived 
 of his sight, he stood, and with much earnestness lis- 
 tened while I explained to him the evidences of the 
 ffivinity of the adorable Saviour." 
 
 \\'e(lnc.sdav, lOtli. in the morning" he again visited
 
 OUT-DOOR PATIENTS. 205 
 
 the old Alms-IIousc, and prayed with the sick and 
 dying in several rooms. TJy particular request, he 
 rode to IJellevue, where the new Alms-House was 
 then heing erected, in one of the outer buildings of 
 which, a number of sick soldiers were placed ; among 
 whom he found the man he was requested to visit. 
 This unfortunate individual had been shot, by the ac- 
 cidental discharge of a musket, loaded with two bul- 
 lets. He was composed in mind, and no stranger to 
 the grace of God. To him, therefore, the visit of a 
 clergyman could not be otherwise than agreeable ; 
 and after conversation and prayer, he expressed his 
 unfeigned gratitude. 
 
 Thursday, 20th. " This day," says Mr. Stanford, 
 *' I enter my sixtieth year. I was assisted to indulge 
 Rome serious reflections on the mercy and goodness of 
 God to me, the most unworthy of his creatures, and 
 to offer myself in prayer at the throne of the Lord, 
 for any future services which the Saviour may re- 
 quire. Preached four times this day, and made an 
 agreeable visit to the sick soldiers of Colonel Colden's 
 regiment." 
 
 Friday, 21st. Early in the morning he rode to 
 Bellevue to visit the soldiers, and particularly the 
 man who had been so severely wounded. The bullets 
 having been extracted, he gradually recovered, and 
 lived to praise God for his sparing mercy. 
 
 Lord's day, 23d. On invitation of General Mapes, 
 Mr. Stanford preached to his regiment, in a field 
 near the East-lliver. Afternoon to the church in 
 Fayette-strect, and in the evening to a large assembly 
 in the Alms-Tlouse. 
 
 Thursday, November 2d. In the morning he visited 
 n poor sick woman in his neighbourhood. Although 
 his more immediate duties in the public institutions 
 rendered it extremely difficult for him to visit out- 
 door patients of any description, yet when they were 
 poor, and not attached to anv particular congregation, 
 
 18
 
 r206 PARDONS. 
 
 we find lihn always willing to attend them; and it 
 appears that his visit to this poor dyin<j creature, was 
 not in vain in the Lord. From this chamber of afflic- 
 tion, he walked to the Magdalen-Honse, and at ten 
 o'clock delivered a discourse to a number of attentive 
 females. At twelve o'clock he preached in the United 
 States Military-Hospital, and afterwards visited the 
 sick in Colonel Colden's camp. The afternoon was 
 spent in the State-.Prison, visiting the sick, and 
 preaching two sermons, in different parts of the 
 building; after which he walked home, and retired 
 into his chamber to praise God for the mercies of the 
 day. 
 
 Lord's day, November Gth. At eight o'olock in 
 the morning, he preached in the City-Hospital, and 
 at ten in the State-Prison chapel. This being the 
 season when the governor of the state usually confers 
 a pardon upon such of the prisoners as are recom- 
 mended to his clemency, Mr. Stanford gave a dis- 
 course to the criu)inals at two o'clock in the after- 
 noon, on Jeremiah's deliverance from the dungeon; 
 and closed the day with his accustomed services in 
 the Aims-House. 
 
 Lord's day, 13th. Li the morning, he preached at 
 the City-Hospital, and in the State-Prison chajiel. 
 Returned immediately to the City-Hospital, for the 
 purpose of visiting two dying men who were earnestly 
 concerned for their salvation. In the afternoon lie 
 preached in the chapel in the Debtor's-Prison, and 
 in the evening to a large company in the Aims-House. 
 " This," lie says, " was a day of mercy and loving- 
 kindness from the Lord, es[)ecially in the State- 
 Prison. It was observed by the visitors in the gallery, 
 that a number of the prisoners were in tears. The 
 subject was — ' The last enemy that shall he dcstroi/ed, 
 is death: " 
 
 Thursday, 24th. This day, though very unwell, he 
 walked to, and from Greenwich; visited the sick, and
 
 SERMON ON THE DEATH OF ELIJAH HUNTER. 207 
 
 preached four times. In the State-Prison he had the 
 
 satisfaction to hear, that J. D informed the head 
 
 keeper, that eighteen months ago the Lord had 
 blessed one of Mr. Stanford's discourses, as a means 
 of guiding him to the Saviour. This prisoner had 
 been the head gardener, conducted himself with pro- 
 priety, and died trusting in the Lord Jesus. Such 
 instances of mercy to the miserable, demand the 
 most devout gratitude, and form strong encourage- 
 ment for persevering in the good work of the Lord. 
 
 Wednesday, December 1st. This day he visited 
 twelve icards in the Aims-House. He found several 
 of the paupers near death; some of them insensible 
 to their situation, and others praying and hoping for 
 mercy. One very aged person, who had seen days 
 of aflluence, was rejoicing in the hope of eternal life 
 through Christ, and waiting for the coming of the 
 liOrd. Another poor creature was in great agony for 
 the salvation of her soul. 
 
 Tuesday, 7th. Mr. Stanford walked to the Mag- 
 dalen-House, in company with some of the managers, 
 and performed divine service. He then visited the 
 United States Military-Hospital, and after sermon 
 conversed with a sick soldier, only eighteen years of 
 age. This youth was under very strong convictions 
 of his sinfulness, and need of a Saviour to prepare 
 him to meet death. While prayer was offered for 
 him, he shed many tears, and it is hoped that in the 
 Ijord he found mercy and jicace. In the hospital of 
 the State-Prison he found two criminals earnestly 
 engaged for the salvation of their souls. After the 
 labours of the day, he remarks: — "As 1 walked 
 home, I was assisted sweetly to rejoice in the Lord 
 my Saviour." 
 
 On the first Monday in January, 1816, though much 
 enfeebled by the labours of the preceding Sabbath, 
 he performed the mournful service of preaching a 
 funeral sermon on the death of his long-tried friend,
 
 208 TWO MEN UNDER SENTENCE OF DEATH. 
 
 Elijah Hunter, Esq. The text was, " I have finished 
 my course.^^ Although tliis is one of Mr. Stanfonrs 
 ablest productions, yet, like many other excellent 
 sermons, essays, «fc.c. must be omitted, to prevent this 
 volume from swelling beyond the prescribed dimen- 
 sions. 
 
 On Wednesday, the lOth, he )>crformed his usual 
 services in the Alms-IIouse ; and in the afternoon 
 attended the Bridewell, in company with the sheriff, at 
 which time the parents and relatives were permitted 
 to converse with two coloured men, who were under 
 sentence of death. The meeting was truly aifecting. 
 So great was the interest which he felt in thoir cast-, 
 that he considered it a duty to postpone his visits to 
 tlie other juiblic institutions, and, daring the four days 
 j)rior to their execution, to devote the whole of his 
 time to promote the interests of their souls. 
 
 The following statement presents another instance 
 of his indefatigable labours, as the minister of the 
 poor. 
 
 On Thursday, the 25th, he walked to the Orpiian- 
 Asylum, and heard two classes recite. Presented lo 
 each of the monitors a grammar, with which they 
 were highly jjleased. He then delivered an address 
 on the death of a pious child; after which, he walked 
 to the State-Prison, and preached two sermons; then 
 visited the sick, and walked home ; but so much 
 fatigued, as to be incapable of doing any thing in the 
 evening. The dawn of the following day fouml him 
 again at his post, in the active discharge of his duties. 
 
 For his constant and faithfid labours in the Orphan- 
 Asylum, he received the following letter of thanks 
 from the directresses of that institution. 
 
 " REV. SIR, 
 
 " The Board of Directresses of the Orphan-Asylum, 
 •cnsible of your active benevolence in promoting thu
 
 LETTER FROM HON. RICHARD STANFORD. 209 
 
 interests of their institution, have requested mc to 
 express, the warm aclvnoulcdginents of their grati- 
 tude. 
 
 " Your unwearied attention to the improvement of 
 tlie children under their charge, in that knowledge 
 which *■ makdli wise unto salvation,^ and your continual 
 efforts to extend the usefulness of their Asylum, are 
 duly appreciated ; and they sincerely hope, your ex- 
 cellent advice may be so cherished by the orphans, 
 that it may be the means of reclaiming the vicious, 
 of preserving sound principles, and of making their 
 future lives, usefid and liappy. 
 
 " The address you delivered before their orphans, 
 on occasion of the late aiHiclive event in Fhiladcl|ihia, 
 when the Orphan Asylum in that city was destroyed 
 by fire, the board are desirous should be published ; 
 and they beg you will allow them to defray the 
 expense. 
 
 " I remain, Rev. Sir, 
 
 " With sentiments of great respect, your's, 
 
 " SUSANNA ONDERDONK, Cor. Sec'ry." 
 
 The following is a letter from the Hon. Richard 
 Stanford, to our venerable friend. 
 
 " Washington Citi/, February 19, 1816. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, 
 
 " Our mutual friend, General J. Swift, being here, 
 1 use the opportunity, by him, to make to you my 
 grateful acknowledgments for your favour of last 
 summer, by the Rev. Dr. Allison, with the several 
 presents to my family accompanying it. They all 
 reached my family since I left home, and Mrs. Stan- 
 ford has transmitted to me your letter, enjoining it 
 upon me, when I should write you, not to forget the 
 tender of her iiarticfilar respects and remembrance. 
 
 '* By the General, 1 have also sent you a small 
 pocket Bible, which I must request you to accept, as 
 
 18*
 
 210 DEATH OF HON. RICHARD STANFORD. 
 
 the memento of my regard, and sincerest best wishes 
 in your behalf, that you may enjoy the peace it pro- 
 mises, and the happiness it insures. As it was, you 
 know, i\\e first promise and gift of God to estranged, 
 fallen man, so then let it be, between us, a remem- 
 brance, always to teach us, though strangers upon tho 
 earth, how we may become fellow-citizens in heaven, 
 "lean only further add, that 1 continue to be blessed 
 with tolerable health, and feel that 1 ought to be moro 
 thankful than I am, for blessings bestowed on me and 
 mine. 
 
 " Believe me to be, my dear Sir, 
 
 *' With the greatest regard and respect, 
 " Always your obedient humble servant, 
 
 " R. STANFORD."* 
 
 Mr. Stanford commenced his diary for March, 1816, 
 with the following remarks. 
 
 " Lord's day. Began this month vvith more than 
 nsual engagedness of heart, to walk with God, and 
 to be more useful to my several congregations." 
 
 The subjoined extracts, will show, that his zeal did 
 not evaporate in the heat oi'a mere cxjicriment. 
 
 " Tuesday, 12th. Took my usual rounds in tho 
 City-Hospital, and found the coloured people very 
 desirous to learn to read, and I hope I shall be able 
 to establish three schools amongst them." 
 
 Wednesday, 13th, he visited nine rooms in the 
 Alms-llousc, and prayed in eight; in one of which ho 
 
 * Tho Hon. RicHAHU SrANioiiDdied al his lodgings in George-Town, 
 oil the 9lh of Apiil, 18'2(). He was at llic time of his decease, a repre- 
 ■oiitative in (^"ongioss from the iStatc of Norlli-Caroiina, n^ed 47 years. 
 His Complaint was tlie er)si|)clas,orii;iiKiliiip, it is believed, in aromnion 
 cold. Ho h;id ijrei) a iiiemher of the I louse of Iveiiresciitatives for near 
 twenty years, and was. at tho time of his dealli, llie eldest member of the 
 house. In private life, be was nniversally esteemed and respected, qh an 
 upright man, and a hi^iiiy useful member of society. From respect to iiis 
 memory, Con;;ress adjourned for two days, and all the members of bctU 
 tiuuacB ultcuded his funeral.
 
 NEW ALM.S-HOUSE. 211 
 
 found many persons in (lyin;^ circumstances, to whom 
 he preached the word ol" Htc. 
 
 Monday, the 29th, Mr. Stanford opened the chapel 
 of the new Ahiis-PIousc, by preaching a sermon from 
 Psahu ix. 18. 
 
 The following article, describing that interesting 
 occasion, is taken from the Commercial Advertiser 
 for April 30. 
 
 "■ I was yesterday present at the opening and con- 
 secration of the eleaant chapel of the new Alms-Mouse, 
 ',A Bellevuc, and i think 1 never saw so solemn and 
 interesting a scene in the whole course of my life. 
 The religious ceremonies were performed by the 
 Rev. and venerable Mr. Stanford, the chaplain, who 
 delivered a very eloquent and impressive discourse 
 from the words — ' Fo/ iltc necdt/ shall not alivnijs be 
 Jorgolfdn ; the expectation of the poor shall not perish 
 for ever." He incorporated with his discourse, a brief 
 view of the rise and progress of humane institutions 
 in this city, particulariy of the establishment which 
 this extensive building is designed to continue. Tho 
 congregation a^^scmbied on this occasion were very 
 respectable; and besides the honourable the Corpo- 
 ration, 1 noticed some of our first characters, and 
 many strangers of distinction. It is sincerely to be 
 wished, that the sermon should a|)pear in print, as it 
 will l)e read with very great interest." 
 
 This discourse was printed by order of the Cor- 
 poration, 'i'lie subjoined note is an extract, contain- 
 ing an abridged account of the places provided 
 at difl'erent periods, for the poor of the city, which, it 
 is iioped, will not be without interest to the readers 
 of this volume. It would seem to be peculiarly 
 desirable, while writing tlie nuMUoir of the man, who 
 was emphatically the miiiisler of Christ, to the poor 
 of New- York, at the same time, to give a succinct 
 history of the institutions in which, with so much zeal 
 and success, he continued for many years to labour^
 
 212 MAN'USCRIPT BOOK LO:<T. 
 
 This it was the original design of the writer to have 
 furnished, from the ample materials provided, in a 
 manuscript volume prepared by Mr. S. and presented 
 to the Common Council. It is to be regretted, that 
 notwithstanding the most diligent search, assisted by 
 the late mayor, Walter Bowne, Esq. and others, we 
 have been unable to find this valuable book, which, 
 by means that remain involved in mystery, has been 
 abstracted from the archives of the city.* 
 
 • " In pioportion as the light of the gospel hus been diffused throngh 
 our land, the liistory of the poor has become increasingly interesting. 
 Searching the public records of this city, we find that under the old adiuiu- 
 istration, the number of its inhabitants, in 1699, amounted to six thousand 
 souls. The poor, at this early period, received partial relief in their own 
 habitations, or lodgings were provided for them by the Vestry. Johannes 
 De Peyster, Esq. was then mayor. In 1707, greater attention was paid 
 to the indigent. Every person provided with food and clothing wore 
 a badge upon the sleeve, formed of the letters N. Y. in blue or red cloth. 
 As population increased, certain persons of humanity and opulence, in 
 1714, presented a well written petition to Robert Lurting, V.sq. the 
 mayor, and to the Corporation, on the utility of erecting a substantial 
 building for the reception of various classes of poor, and as a house of 
 correction. \Vhereu])on iMessrs. Roome, Bayard, Fell, and Burger, wlio 
 were aldermen, witli three other gentlemen, were appointed a committee 
 •to select a suitable piece of ground, and to purchase materials for tho 
 purpose. They, eventually, chose a si)ot, then called the Vineyard ; tho 
 very place on which now stands our City-IIall. The house erected was 
 nixlv-five feet by twenty-four, two stories high, with good cellar apart- 
 ments. The front room to the rigiit, was ajjjjropriated to the use of tlio 
 superintendent; the first of whom was John ISeabring. The upjicrroom^ 
 on the west side, was used as an infirmary; the first physician of which 
 was Dr. John Van Bnrcn. grandfather of the present Dr. Van Bnren, of 
 tiii.-i city ; who lield iiis olhce thirty years. His salary was one hundred 
 pounds a year; out of which he found his own medicines. Trustees, by 
 an annual election, were appointed to the institution, who regularly met 
 once a week. The descri[)tion of persons received to this house were — 
 tiie indigent poor, the sick, the orphan, the maniac, and tlie refractory. 
 Tiiis house for the poor, was supported out of wiiat was ihen called the 
 Minister's Fiuid, a sma'l tax upon the inhabitants, and by voluntary 
 cnntriljulions, which sometimes were very liberal. Besides, the clergy 
 of iliis city benevolently took their turn, weekly, in prcaviiing the gos])el 
 to the poor. 
 
 "When the war commenced between England and America, in tlie 
 year ]77(i. it became necessary to remove the poor, first to West-Chester, 
 and afleiwards Id ronghkcepsie, under the charge of Mr. .Tohn Fori)e8. 
 During the war, however, the poor and the refractory were received into 
 the Alins-llouse, then under the care of Mr. William Littlewood; who 
 way peruiiltcd to draw king's rulious for uiuc months, to support the
 
 Ri:.<IGNATIO.N I.N DEATH. 213 
 
 In his diary for the monvh of May, he says: — "Two 
 of my sick patients in the village died yesterday, in 
 
 poor. After this, the Corporation appointed Sainnel Dell, Esq. prand- 
 f.itht;r to the present deputy slieritl", Mr. Jam ;s l^ell, to the olhce of 
 superintendent ol" Itie establishment. — In consequence of the destnutivfl 
 lire which tooiv place in this city on the 21st September, 177o; lhrc« 
 buiulred destitute persons were received into this in.-tiiulion. 
 
 '• On tiie establishment of the IiidependiMic;' of America, Christian 
 benevolence to the poor assumed still more cheeriiiii feiitiires. The poor 
 who were foaiercd in I'ougiikeepsio, reuirned to the city under the super- 
 intendence of Mr. Samuel Dodge. Several out buildings were soon 
 erected on the premises, to make the Aiins-Iliiuse ni')re connnodiousi. 
 
 *• The increase of population, and the ;ireat inilax of emigrants from 
 various parts oi'Europe, so exceedingly added to the iiumljor of the; poor, 
 that it became indispensably necess:iry to erect a more commodious Alm»- 
 llouse. ia Chamber-street; while, at the same time, the old site lift n 
 favourable space for eriicting tlie |)resent City-Mall. This hou.ie is of 
 brick, two hundred and si.\ty feet by forty-four; with two projections in 
 front, of fiileeu by thirty. Possession of this establishuieut was taktii Lu 
 1795. 
 
 " From the more opulent and benevolent part of the comnmnity, abont 
 this period, a spirit of philanthropy began still more eminently to appear 
 in favour of the needy and the destitute. For these purposes, vari(;ua 
 Bocieties have been succes3i>'ely established — here are public charity 
 schools for indigent children — the widow, with small children, are fostered 
 by a society of females — by another, clothing is provided for the naked— 
 by a provident society, the imprisoned debtors, and other jiccessitous 
 persons, are supplied with refreshments — aged widows, who once saw 
 belter days, are aided with necessary comforts to alleviate their sorrows 
 while closing the period of life — here, too, as one of the brightest orna- 
 ments of our city, exists an asylum for helj)less orphans, where they are 
 tenderly fostered, and receive such educati-m and religious instruction aa 
 promises thi* greatest advant;igc to the children, and to tin; general com- 
 munity. While these several acts of benevolence are honourable to 
 human nature and to our citizcjis, all must confess that they are the fruit 
 of the gospel of Jesus ("hrist, which we so plentifully enjoy. 
 
 " For wise purposes, and combining a greater nuuibcr of objects, the 
 Corporation of our city have erected this establishment at Bellevue — tho 
 chapel of which, we this day open for divine worship, is sixty by fort}'-fiv» 
 feet, and thirty in height, with three spacious galleries, the whole linishcfl 
 with great neatness. The tirst stone of this building was laid August ], 
 1811, by the Honourable I)e Witt Clinton, mayor of the city. The pro- 
 mises, at present, occujiy about seventeen acres of ground The building 
 itself is three hundred and twenty feet by lifty ; with two wings, ona 
 hundred by fifty feet. Two hospitals are in the rear, [seventy-live by 
 twenty-five feet, three stories high. A penitentiary is also erected for the 
 continement of those who have committed petit larceny; likewise a spa- 
 cious work-shop, two hundred feet by twenty-five. To these extensive 
 buildings will be added separate schools for the male and female cliildren, 
 to receive a plain education, and religious in.struction ; ia hope, that bj 
 tbe blessing of God they may become useful citizens.
 
 214 SABBATH BREAKERS CONVERTED. 
 
 perfect resignation to the Lord Jesus, so that tny 
 labours are not altogether in vain, however truly un- 
 worthy I am." 
 
 Friday, the 14th, he went to the new Alnis-House, 
 visited thirty moms, and offered |)rayer in more than 
 half of them. " In this service," he says, " I found 
 much communion with my Lord. Carried four Bibles, 
 and some tracts for the i)risoners in the Penitentiary. 
 This to me was a refreshing day's work. Praise the 
 Lord!" 
 
 August 18th. This day Mr. Stanford was assisted 
 to jjreach with unusual satisfaction at the Alms- 
 ilousc, v.'hcre he was informed, that the gospel, 
 preached on the preceding Lord's day, liad been 
 blessed to three young lads, who, while breaking the 
 Sabbath, had strolled into the place. After this they 
 came regidarly to hear him, until they made a public 
 jirofcssion of religion, and became members of dif- 
 ferent churches in this city. In the morning a young 
 Jew came to hear t!io gos])el, and was very attentive. 
 After service he shook hands with Mr. S. and accom- 
 j>anied him to the State-Prison chapel, in which he 
 })reached at three o'clock in the afternoon. At five, 
 lie again jireachcd at the Dcbtor's-Prison ; and at 
 half-past seven, in the Mrdberry-strcct cluu\"h. 
 
 On the lOth of October, he walked to the State- 
 Prison, where he |)reached two sermons in the chapel, 
 and after visiting the sick, he receivcii the following 
 
 " Sovoral years siiicf>, I liail tlic ]ileasnrc of prnseiitiiig to llie lionour- 
 ablo the Oirporatioii, a plan for establisliiiiif an asylum for va^naut yontli. 
 Many of lliis (l(!sc.ri|)lion, for a j^roat Icn^lli of tinio, ajipareiiliy without 
 pari^nLs or fii(!ii(ls to foslor their tender yoars, have inicstud onr streets, 
 inarket.-", and wliarve.-j ; too IV(.'(iuenlly eonmiitliiif; depredation^; on the 
 pnhlic, and rniniiifj thenisolves. And, it is a fact, that for the want of 
 such an asylum, there arc now many criminal children consigned to the 
 jStito-l'rison. It would, indeed, be a luxury to my heart, to live and see 
 an asylum of this description, in which such young unfortunates might 
 \tvi rescued from vice, iiuired to habits of industry, mid roceive such 
 • Jucatijii a-i may render thorn useful to the public.''
 
 LETTER FROM GOVERNOR TOMPKINS. 215 
 
 l<!ttcr, signed l)y fifteen prisoners, wlio liad become 
 anxious about tbe salvation of their souls. 
 
 "sir, 
 
 '•' Convinced, that you desire to assist those wlio 
 are willing to assist themselves in the important duties 
 of religion, T am induced by the request of a number 
 of my fellow-prisoners, to solicit the aid of your in- 
 lluence with the authority of this jirison, (in case it is 
 not contrary to its regulation,) to let us have a room 
 to ourselves, as there are fifteen of us, who wish to 
 spend our evenings in reading the Holy Scriptures, 
 and othei" religious books for our mutual edification ; 
 and in prayer to that Goi) whom we have so griev- 
 ously ortended. The reason of this request is, tliat 
 we may be of service to each other in our united re- 
 searches, and that we may be more quiet and undis- 
 turbed than we can be in the other rooms. We can 
 assure you, Rev. Sir, that it is not for any ostentatious 
 or hypocritical show, or that we may obtain favours 
 of men, but that we nuiy obtain the more desired 
 favour, the forgiveness of God, through the mediation 
 of a crucified Saviour, to the salvation of our souls." 
 
 The following letter will furnish an additional evi- 
 dence of the favourable views, which enlightened 
 men, entertained respecting the services of Mr. Stan- 
 ford. 
 
 From Governor Tompkins to 3Ir. Stanford. 
 
 " Castleton, Staten-Islaml , Ocloher 31, 1816. 
 
 " DEAR AND RKV. SIR, 
 
 " Exceedingly do I regret that any cause should 
 have deprived me of your contemplated visit, as I 
 can assure you it would have given me sincere plea- 
 sure to have seen you here. 
 
 ''Do not ccMitiniie to ^^ithhold from me vour ob^er-
 
 21 G CONDITIONAL PAUDO?{S. 
 
 vrttioiis on ro!i;liti{)n;il pardons. Timt subject ha?» 
 lately occujiied my mind much; and I have thought 
 that conditions of a totally diflerent kind, might, 
 with more propriety and eliect be substituted for tliose 
 now inserted in pardons. 
 
 " I acknowledge a repetition of your friendly at- 
 tention, in the grateful acceptance of two additional 
 copies of your sermon ; and return, with my thanks, 
 an assurance of higli personal regard and esteem. 
 
 " DAMEL D. TOMPKINS." 
 
 Upon the subject above referred to, Mr. S. pre- 
 sented an able document to the Legislature, entitled, 
 '• Observations on Conditional Pardons granted by 
 the Executive, to Criminals in the IState-Prison of 
 IVew-Vork.
 
 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 MK. STANFORD UFGlN'S THE YEAU WITH ACTIVE EXERTIONS 
 
 TO ADVANCE THE CAUSE OF TRUTH INTERVIEW WITH 
 
 PRESIDENT MONROK — DESCRIPTION OF THE STATE-PRISON 
 LETTER TO UOVERNOR CLINTON HIS REPLY. 
 
 On the 7th of February, 1817, Mr. Stanford visited 
 the hospital in the New Aims-House, and afterward 
 went into the Penitentiary adjoining, to organize a 
 school for the instruction of the more ignorant amongst 
 the miserable inmates. In the main building he estab- 
 lished a singing school, which became very popular, 
 not only as a means of adding to the information, and 
 interesting the minds of the children; but, by con- 
 tributing to the improvement of the sacred music in 
 the ciiapel. 
 
 March 2d. " Last evening" says Mr. S. " myself 
 mid family were much alarmed by a person who se- 
 creted himself in the house, no doubt for the purpose of 
 plunder; and was discovered only by a singular Pro- 
 vidence." As the intruder was making his escape, a 
 f)erson present endeavoured to seize hiin, but Mr. S. 
 with his usual facetiousness, said, " Let the poor 
 fellow go, he is perhaps one of my Greenwich (State- 
 Prison) congregation, and 1 shall no doubt meet him 
 again, where we may talk this matter over at our 
 leisure." 
 
 la the month of June, Mr. S. visited Mr. Monroe, 
 the president of the United States, then on his way 
 to the eastern states; and invited him to inspect the 
 institutions under his care. The invitation was cor- 
 dially accepted, and the president, attended by many 
 gentlemen of distinction, accompanied the venerable 
 
 19
 
 213 VISIT OF PRESIDENT MONROE. 
 
 chaplain to the State-Prison, the Orphan-Asylum, 
 and Ahns-House at Belleviie, and was pleased to ex- 
 press his great pleasure in witnessing the perfect 
 order of the several schools, and the evident moral 
 improvement of those committed to Mr. Stanford's 
 cliarge. 
 
 Upon this [)oint, it may not he uninteresting to 
 quote the words of those, whose means of information, 
 and personal observation, enable them to give a cor- 
 rect opinion. The selection in this instance is, in 
 part, from a document printed by order of the gover- 
 nors of the New- York State-Prison. 
 
 *' Schools. — Among the convicts, there are always 
 some men of handsome literary acquirements. In 
 the winter season, the most capable of these are em- 
 ployed in teaching the boys, and such uneducated 
 men, whose conduct since their imprisonment has 
 been unexceptionable, in reading, writing, and arith- 
 metic. 
 
 " Their improvement has in many instances sur- 
 passed expectation, and much good, it is believed, 
 lias resulted from this arrangement." 
 
 As early as the year 1SI5, Mr. Stanford had or- 
 ganized seven schools in this institution, in which 
 were taught, not merely the elementary branches of 
 an English education, but, in some instances, Latin 
 and the mathematics. 
 
 For the benefit i)articularly of the youth, Mr. S. 
 composed an evangelical Catechism, which was printed 
 by order of the Inspectors. In this, amongst other 
 studies, they were examined once eveiy month. This 
 duty was generally ])erformed in the chapel, and in 
 the presence of the head keeper, and such visitors as 
 might choose to be present. " The last examination," 
 says Mr. S. " was truly solemn and interesting. 
 The number of youth present, fioni the age of eleven 
 to fifteen, was sixty-seven." IMany unfortunate 
 young persons, who enter within the walls of this
 
 THE CHAi'LAIN HIGHLY COMMENDED. 219 
 
 gloomy place, are totally ignorant of letters; but, 
 tlirough the blessing of God, upon the efforts of their 
 teachers, they go away with a good education. Tiiese 
 schools are open only in the evening, so that there is 
 110 interruption of their daily labour. 
 
 ''JVorship. — The apartment appropriated for Chris- 
 tian worship is a fine airy room, and will contain about 
 six hundred persons. Every Sunday the chapel is 
 opened for divine service. The Rev. John Stanford 
 is the chaplain. During worshij) the general deport- 
 ment of the convicts is decent and correct : many of 
 them join in prayers and in singing, with apparent 
 zeal and devotedness to religious exercise ; and fond 
 hopes are entertained, that a perseverance in this 
 course will have a lasting and salutary effect on 
 many, after the period of their confinement shall 
 have expired. 
 
 " Much credit is due to' the chaplain for his un- 
 wearied and persevering exertions in procuring for 
 the prisoners the advantages which a regular per- 
 formance of divine worship is calculated to afford. 
 And not only to the convicts are these advantages 
 extended : the neighbourhood also partake of them, 
 many persons in the vicinity being in the constant 
 jiractice of attending worship in the prison. To the 
 same exertions the school establishment in this peni- 
 tentiary is also greatly indebted. In fine, the inde- 
 fatigable zeal of the Rev. Mr. Stanford in attempting 
 to better the temporal state of the convicts, and to 
 pronjote their eternal welfare, is deserving much 
 commendation." 
 
 To show, that literary and moral instruction was not 
 bestowed in vain ujion the miserable inmates of the 
 State-Prison, we shall present a few additional in- 
 stances of convicts, who have died in the PrisoD, 
 triumphing in the hope of a" blissful immortality, 
 through the atoning blood of the Lamb. 
 
 While any instance of a sinner's repentance ere-
 
 220 CONVERSION OF H. T. 
 
 ates joy among the angels in heaven, it is equally a 
 cause of exultation and praise in the Church of God 
 upon the earth. But when we penetrate the gloom 
 of a prison, and see the hardened criminal, in his 
 chains, bowing his obdurate soul to the sceptre of 
 mercy, his heart and mind experiencing a change, 
 the very reverse of his former character, we may 
 justly exclaim, " Is not this a brand pi i(cl;cd out of fhc 
 fireV 
 
 The hearts of all unconverted men, arc estrangt^d 
 from God; and nothing short of the power of the 
 Holy Spirit can regenerate and reconcile the sinner to 
 God. When, therefore, we behold those who have 
 long been familiar with crime, who have gloried in 
 the bondage of Satan, and Vvho?e lia!)it.s, like fetters 
 and chains, have been so strongly rivetted as to out- 
 brave the frown of public reprobation; when such are 
 reclaimed and brought to abhor their former charac- 
 ter, to love and obey the adorable Saviour, and to de- 
 vote every power of their souls to God, we do then 
 witness a triumph over the powers of darkness, which 
 the gospel of Christ, alone has power to achieve. 
 
 The conversion of li T . 
 
 " This man," says Mr. S. " had been coiifmed in the 
 hospital of the prison several weeks by a severe Uw^x ; 
 and although J hnd conversed with him often, I could 
 get no information which indicated penitence, until this 
 day. 'You know not. Sir, what a vile sinner I have 
 been. All my days, I have been working against («od, 
 and now, how glad I should be to work for him. [ wish 
 he would work upon my miserably hard heart, but I 
 have little expectation that he will do it.' ' How long 
 is it since you iirst had these impressions of mind?' 
 * About nine months: but I have kept them to myself. 
 I did not like to speak to you ; and my fellow-prisoners 
 would only laugh at me.' ' Do you now feel the im- 
 portance of receiving the salvation of the Lord V ' U
 
 CO.WKIISION OF H. T. 221 
 
 yes, Sir, that I do, tor if God does not save mc, I 
 must die a iiiiseruble sinner!' He fainted. On re- 
 viving, he said: — ' 1 do suppose J must soon die ; I 
 cannot live long; I have nothing to ask but mercy 
 from God, but 1 have been so wicked I do not expect 
 it. O I^ord, help, help me!' I assured him that he 
 coidd not possibly feel too sensible of his sinful condi- 
 tion; on the contrary, the more humble and penitent, 
 the more welcome would he beat the throne of mercy. 
 Of course 1 explained to him the unbounded ability of 
 Jesus Christ to save the chief of sinners, and that the 
 Spirit of God could enlighten his mind, and give him 
 faith to rest upon the promises of the gospel. To this 
 he replied: — 'I have been driven by my sins to so 
 great a distance from God, and 1 am so ignorant, that 
 1 know not how to go to him. 1 pray as well as 1 
 can, but 1 fear nothing will do.' My visits were fre- 
 quently repeated, and I found him very urgent for 
 instruction. The other prisoners informed me, that 
 he was constant in prayer. 
 
 " After sermon on tlie Lord's day morning, I was 
 informed that his disorder had taken an unfavourable 
 turn, and that there was very little expectation of his 
 recovery, lie said, ' 3Ir. Stanford, I have earnestly 
 desired to see you ; I think I view things in a different 
 light now. Every day 1 feel more and more that I 
 am a guilty wretch. But still God gave his Son, and 
 Christ died to save — God gives promise to penitents 
 — God knows that I am one, and I pray that I may 
 be saved. But, O Sir, I want to feel it before I die.' 
 
 " On my next visit he was very low indeed, but his 
 mind was tranquil. I said, ' 1 hope i find you better?' 
 ' I think 1 grow worse.' ' How do you find your mind .^* 
 * Very different to what it was when you were here 
 last. 1 now feel reconciled to God, and cast myself 
 into the hands of my Saviour Jesus Christ.' ' Did 
 you ever enjoy such satisfaction before?' ' Sir, I 
 never did. I always stifled the convictions of my 
 
 19*
 
 222 HAPPY DEATH OF H. T. 
 
 conscience, and despised religion. I have been verr 
 wicked, but the mercy of God is great to me beyond 
 measure ; none but God could have produced such a 
 change in my wicked mind. I now have hope that 
 God will not cast me away, though 1 deserve it.' Tho 
 next day he died, trusting in the mercy of God, 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 *' Hoping that the Lord would bless his word to the 
 relief of those who witnessed this impressive scene, I 
 delivered a discourse, in the hall, from Nehemiah v. 19 
 — ' Think upon mc, my God, for good,^ which they 
 might all hear in their respective rooms. At'ier 
 which, the following lines were sung : — 
 
 ' When with hfe's heavy load oppress'd, 
 I bend the trembhng kuoe, 
 Then give my suffering spirit rest, 
 Dear Lord, remember me ! 
 
 ' O.' let me on the bed of death, 
 Thy great salvation see, 
 And cry with my expiring breath. 
 Dear Lord, remember mc!'" 
 
 On Wednesday, the IGth, after examining tho 
 children, and delivering a discourse in the Orphan- 
 Asylum, Mr. S. i)reached in the State-l'rison ; ari<l 
 received the delightful information, that it had [)leas- 
 ed God to bless his conversation with a sick woman 
 in the Aims-House ; who, shortly after her removal 
 to the house of a friend, died, triumphing in the grace 
 of God, through our Lord .Icsus Christ. 
 
 Wednesday, Docctnber lOth. Mv. S. remarks, 
 ♦' I performed my usual services nt the Orphan-Asy- 
 lum and State-Prison. A prisoner expresse<l his 
 gratitude that the Lord had reached his Iieart, by 
 the word and power of his grace." 
 
 " What deep obligations am I under to my blessed 
 Lord, for his forbearance and goodness to me during 
 auotheryear! Although in my sixty-third year, he
 
 LETTER FROM GOVERNOR CLINTON. 22^3 
 
 has enabled me to labour far beyond my most san- 
 guine expectations. And as the Lord has, during 
 the year, been pleat-ed to bless my feeble services to 
 the benefit of many of the poor and wretched, tho 
 whole of the praise I give to his glory, and rest 
 myself, as the most unworthy of all, upon tho pure 
 mercy of God in Christ. Amen." 
 
 Mr. Stanford preached four times on the second 
 Lord's day in February, 1818; but on Monday morn- 
 ing following-, while ])rcparing a di&course for tho 
 IJridewcll in the afternoon, and finishing a long com- 
 munication to Governor Clinton, on the subject of pri- 
 sons, he was suddenly proslrated by a paralysis of hia 
 whale person, and although the best medical aid was 
 instantly afforded him, yet his recovery was for several 
 days, very doubtful. On Friday evening his mental 
 faculties resumed their funclions, and, as he opened 
 liis eyes, ho began to repeat the 23(1 Psahu — " Ike 
 ImyiI is mij Shrplierd," 6^-c. In a few weeks he v.as so 
 far restored, as to be able again to write to the Gover- 
 nor of the state, concerning a man under sentence of 
 death. During his confinement, he also jjrejiared a 
 Catecl'.ism for the use of the schools in the Alms- 
 Ilouse. 
 
 The following extract from Governor Clinton's 
 letter, acknowledging the receipt of the document 
 just referred to, will show the opinion which that 
 great statesman and j)rofound scholar entertained 
 of the talents and usefulness of our venerable friend. 
 
 ''Albany, Mirch 15///, 1818. 
 
 " REV. AND DEAR SIR, 
 
 " I received your paper on prisons, an 1 conceive it 
 a very judicious one, founded on accurate observa- 
 tion, and a deep insight into human nature. 
 
 " In presenting my thanks lor this olfering to the 
 public good, I cannot withhold the expression of my 
 regret for the illness you have expeiicnced. ThaJ
 
 224l 'illE SANDBANK. 
 
 a life so useful may he prolonged and rendered more 
 and more beneficial, is the sincere wish of 
 " Your devoted friend, 
 
 "DE WITT CLINTON." 
 
 On Fiiday, the 20th March, after visiting the sick 
 in the Hospital at Bcllcvue, and attending more wards 
 than common, he preached in the Penitentiary, at 
 two P.M. After service he went to see a dying fe- 
 male prisoner. She was in a most distressed state 
 of mind. Her cries for mercy were truly afiecting. 
 While Mr. S. prayed, most of the females around lier 
 were in tears. After this, he says, " I examined the 
 school, and on my return home stopped at the City- 
 Hospital to visit and pray with four dying jjatients.', 
 
 " Lord's day, Ajiril 2()th. This to me was one of 
 the most painful Sabbaths I ever experienced. The 
 paralysis with which 1 have been afflicted, aftected 
 my brain to such a degree as to prevent all study 
 yesterday, and yet I have had to i)reach five times. 
 In the morning I had more the sensations of dying 
 than living; yet 1 enjoyed strong confidence in my 
 God." 
 
 On the 22(1 of July Mr. S. received a certificate 
 of membershij) in the " Piiiladeiphia Society for al- 
 leviating the Miseries of Public Prisons." 
 
 Tuesday, the 18th of August, he visited the City- 
 Hospital. Ward No. 14, is chiefly occupied by Ro- 
 man Catholics. In the corner, lay a patient who once 
 was a professor of religion. As the si)okesman of 
 his wicked comj)anions, he asked IMr. S. several (pies- 
 tions. Among others was this — AN hen Christ said to 
 Peter, ' upon this rude will I build wi/ churcli,^ did he 
 mean Peter or himself ? To whi(;h Mr. S. replied : 
 "He surely coidd not mean Peter, for, in his self-con- 
 fidence he more resembled a sa/ufhioi/c than a rock. 
 He denied his Lord, and would, but for the grace of 
 God, have been equally capable of denying the church.
 
 LETTKR FROM Rl.V. PITER MORTIMER. 225 
 
 It is hapj)}' tor us, tiioreforn, that uc liuvc Christ, the 
 rock eternal, on which to baild our hopes." 
 
 Anotiii-.r day of holy toil. Lord's day, the 
 2-Jil. In the morning Mr. S. preached twice at the 
 l^ity-IIospital, then rode to Bcllevuc, and preaclied 
 twice in the tiiajjcl. linujcdiately al'lcr this he rode 
 to the " Swanij) Church," and preached. The.=e //'<; 
 sermons were deHvered between haH'-pvist eight in the 
 morning and five in the afternoon. 
 
 The following highly interesting loiter is from the 
 brother of the universally lioloved, and much latLcntcd 
 Kev. Benjamin Mortimer, late of this ciiy. 
 
 «' Hcnihid, Scpicmbcr 5/h, 1S13. 
 
 '• REV SIR, 
 
 " Bishop Reichel has delivered to nic your vr.Uia- 
 ble present of the Domestic Chaplain, and other 
 pieces. Tiie book I have read repeatedly with much 
 pleasure and edification, and I sincerely render yon 
 my thanks for it. As for your ^'■Humane and Crimi- 
 nal T'tsiitniions,"^ you seem to think, that similar so- 
 cieties may be I'ormed in this country. But such 
 voluntary societies are quite unknown in this country, 
 and indeed on the whole continent of Europe. They 
 thrive only in England and America. It is a iiondcr 
 that Bible Societies have been established ; it would 
 never have been possible, had not the ()arent society 
 held out the iiope of pecuniary aid. And even with 
 this encouragement they could not be established 
 without the approbation of government. The kings 
 of Saxony, Prussia, AV'urtcuuberg, and other princes, 
 have signified their approbation ; but in iho Auslrian 
 ami Bavarian Dominions, no Bible Societies ran exist, 
 because, government has forbidden tjiem. Ynu 
 see here the difference between liberti/ and (hsj'otitm. 
 It is, however, amusing to observe with wliat success 
 the smngs^ling: of Bibles goes on in those hostile regiong. 
 Bishop Reichel tells me that my brother is ranch like
 
 22Q CONVERSION OF W. L. 
 
 me, (we have never seen one another) but he is seven- 
 teen years younger than 1 am. It is now fifty-three 
 years that I am in Germany. 
 
 " Yours in the gospel, 
 
 " PETER MORTIMER." 
 
 On t!ie 9th of the following month Mr. S. visited 
 all the rooms in the front building at Bellevue, thirty- 
 six in number; and though very much fatigued, he 
 preached in the Penitentiary, and afterwards examin- 
 ed tlie school. 
 
 On ^^^ednes(!ay, the 11th of November, he says — 
 "1 preached twice in the State-Prison, and enjoyed a 
 most gratifying conversation with one of the con- 
 victs, who, since his residence in the prison, has drunk 
 deeply of the cup of salvation." As this is an inter- 
 esting case, of the conversion of a poor old Afri- 
 can we shall subjoin a brief extract, which embraces 
 the narrative. 
 
 Conversion of AV L- 
 
 " This is," says 3Ir. Stanford, *' a very old black 
 man. A native of Guinea. I have frequently, and 
 with great pleasure, conversed with him; his answers 
 were short, pertinent, and impressive. I wish I had 
 taken earlier notes of liis conversation. To-day I 
 asked him of his state of mind. In his vernacular 
 dialect, he answered — ' Massa parson, my pain be 
 very great. My heart look the Lord Jesus ; he only 
 my sufjport. ?ilas.sa, I no one else to look ; he make 
 me pati(;nt. IMcss yon, massa.' 
 
 *' February lOth. \\'iHiam, how do you do.'' ' Very 
 well, massa, tank God and you too, massa.' William 
 what is it makes you so comfortable.'' '.lose Christ 
 be my Friend and Sa\iour too, massa. God be very 
 good to me poor creature. 1 dont want to live ; I 
 want to go to heaven, massa.' Dont you know that 
 Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, and that none
 
 LETTER FROM HON. THOMAS J. SPICER. 227 
 
 come unto tljc Father but by him ? ' O ycfe'i plcTisc 
 you, massa, 1 know dat, and his way good enough for 
 nie, poor creature ! 1 shall be there by-and-by. 
 Den I have no more pain, no more sin, dat be best 
 of all, massa parson. I praise him all dc lime, 
 neber leave ofl".' 
 
 *' When I saw him again he was very low, and all 
 he said to me was — * Massa, when my eyes open, 1 look 
 to de Almighty, he my hope, he no forsake me. 
 Massa, I hang on him all day long, till night come. 
 And when I wake in de night, de liOrd be still 
 very good.' 
 
 '* March 24th. He died this night exclaiming, 
 ' IN'ow I die ! — happy for me die i' " 
 
 Tuesday, the 17th, Mr. S. remarks — " I went 
 early to the State-Prison to breakfast with Governor 
 Clinton and other gentlemen, and had much interest- 
 ing conversation with them on the subject of the 
 public institutions." 
 
 The following letter from the Hon. Thomas J. 
 Spicer, is so perfectly coincident with the view of Mr. 
 S. as a philanthropist, which, in this memoir we have 
 attempted to give, that we cannot allow ourselves to 
 omit its insertion. 
 
 '^ Xcic- Orleans, Novcmbtr Oih, lb J 5. 
 
 •' MUCH RE^nX'TEl) FRIEND, 
 
 " 3Iy inclination has frecpiently prompted me to do 
 myself this pleasuie, but heretofore not having ary 
 thing to communicate that could be worthy of yoi.r 
 attention, 1 have remained silent — but now having it 
 in my power to give you an opportunity of indulgiig 
 yourself in your favourite employment, 'the cause (f 
 humtinity' — which, although it will be atterulcd with 
 considerable lai»our, I am confident will meet yoi r 
 most prompt attention. 
 
 "Enlightened men have adopted a State Penitc;«»
 
 228 LETTEU FROM HON. THOMAS J. yPICER. 
 
 tlary, ns the most humane mode of punishment, and 
 best calfudated to reCui m the minds of such of our 
 unhappy fellow creatures as iiave run so long in tlic 
 broad road of vice, that crimes have been added to 
 their sins, and justice has claimed them as her own ; 
 yet with a due regard t« her sway, many souls, no 
 doubt, have been saved by a timely repentance, 
 though under the solitary inHuence of prison walls. 
 
 " This has been often realized to me, wiien I have 
 observed, under your influence, on the Sabbath, the 
 true repentance so visible in the conduct of your 
 too numerous congregation at the New- York State- 
 Prison ; and remarked in your weekly visits with 
 what cheerful countenances they met your fatherly 
 advice ; and how liappy had been the effect of your 
 previous attention to their spiritual concerns; and 
 when 1 contrast this state of things with the situa- 
 tion of the country in which I have become a 
 citizen, I have been fully impressed, that, under 
 your guidance, I may be enabled to alleviate the situa- 
 tion of the many criminals who daily come under our 
 judicatory control; and also be instrumental in doing 
 a service to the state, by stimulating the judiciary 
 to a more general })unisl)ment of crime, and by the 
 establishment of a pcnitentiaiy, abolish the degrad- 
 ing punishment of whijiping, which ])unishment I con- 
 sider only calculated to prostrate the noble mind of 
 man, to the level of the brute creation. For where is 
 the man whose feelings, even if they have become 
 blunted by repeated crimes, does not view, with 
 horrors worse than death, the dreadful punishment 
 of whipping, in the j)resence of the scunj and rabble of 
 a populous city. 
 
 '"* How pri fcralde and how humane would be an 
 establishment on the plan of that in which you ollici- 
 ate in i\ew-Vork, ns its chai)lain, and director of tho 
 refcjrriiing mind ; and to view, at a future i\ay, the 
 change from a common dungeon, where the i)risouer
 
 LETi j:r from HON. thomas J. sricER. 229 
 
 becomes more liardened by liis confinement and pun- 
 ishment, to a penitentiary established upon so hu- 
 mane a system, wlicrc hap|)y ellects would equally 
 result to (lod, the state, and the criminal. 
 
 " The population of this country, composed of a 
 heterogenous mass, has caused crime to become fa- 
 miliar to us, and loudly calls for severe punishment 
 on the oflenders of the laws of the country; neces- 
 sity must soon compel the executive to act pron)ptly ; 
 at which time our prisons will be insuflicient to hold 
 the criminals who may be convicted, and we shall see 
 iujpropcr and unnatural punishment resorted to, in 
 order to free the state from the trouble of retaining 
 them in confinement, or shall be compellcil to witness 
 t!ic ravages of a race of men who resort to this 
 place, as secure from punishment, and free to violate 
 the laws of God and man with impunit)'. 
 
 " You may discover, by my too l)rief remarks on 
 this subject, that 1 am about to request much of you; 
 but when I reflect that future ages will revere your 
 name for the plan of such an institution, I must 
 request that you will, with the least possible delay, 
 forward to me a full and complete plan, with every 
 necessary advice, to enable me, under your direction, 
 to promote the establishment of a Penitentiary for the 
 state of Louisiana. 
 
 '"To point anything out to you on the subject 
 would be j)resumption in me, for among your humane 
 actions and studies 1 have discovered that this has 
 claimed your particular attention, and I rest assured 
 that I shall be in receipt of every thing necessary for 
 the legislature to act upon during the winter session, 
 which may end on the 1st of March, 1819. 
 
 " Please remember me to your amiable family and 
 many friends, and believe me to be, 
 
 " Still your willing pupil, 
 
 "THOMAS J. SPICER." 
 
 20
 
 2-30 AN INFANT DISCIPLE. 
 
 The above letter was answered, by forwarding ti> 
 Mr. Spicer the documents required, inchiding Mr. 
 Stanford's excellent " Memorial on Prisons, addressed 
 to the Legislature of the State of New-York," several 
 years before. This is a valuable paper, full of dis- 
 criminating and practical remarks, but must be 
 omitted for want of room. 
 
 December 2d. Mr. S. walked to the Orphan-Asy- 
 lum, and gave a discourse, with much satisfaction. 
 Another child died this day, and although only seven 
 years of age, he gave very satisfactory evidence of 
 having obtained converting grace, and died rejoicing 
 in the Lord. 
 
 '• No tears for thee be shed, 
 
 Blossom of being, seen and gone '. 
 With flowers alone we strew thy bed, 
 O bless'd departed one ! 
 
 " We rear no marble o'er thy tomb ; 
 
 No sculptur'd image there shall mourn ; 
 Ah ! fitter far the vernal bloora, 
 Such dwelling to adorn."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 INDEFATIGADLC LAHiJUUS, AND OKEAT ENCOURAGLMBN T. 
 
 TuKt^DAY, January 26, 1819. Mr. Stanford preached 
 two sermons in the City-IIospital, and afterwards 
 visited all the wards, and had some agreeable conver- 
 sation with a man whom the Lord had converted from 
 the delusions of the Roman Catholic Church. He 
 said, " O ! Sir, I for ever renounce the Church of 
 Rome ; now Jesus is all my hope ; he is my physician 
 for soul and body." — " Heard of the happy death of 
 a magdulen, to whom, for several months, I have 
 administered the gospel ; and in the afternoon preach- 
 ed twice in the State-Prison. This was a day of 
 mercies." 
 
 Tuesday, February 2d, he went to Beilcvue to meet 
 the Corporation on subjects of interest to the Aims- 
 House and Penitentiary ; and afterwards visited a sick 
 lady, who informed him, that she and her husband 
 attended a course of his lectures more than twenty- 
 six years before, and that the Lord, through his 
 means, had brought them both to a knowledge of 
 himself. 
 
 In the month of August he attended " The Hud- 
 son River Association," and opened the session by 
 preaching a sermon from Acts xxviii. 15. He was 
 afterwards unanimously elected as moderator, and 
 presided during the deliberations of this body, with 
 his usual dignity and ability. 
 
 Tuesday, the 31st, he visited the two upper wards 
 of the City-Hospital, and preached twice. At four 
 o'clock in the afternoon, by request of the governors 
 and physicians, he performed divine service in the
 
 232 THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO LUNATICS. 
 
 lunatic clepartmeut. The unrortiinatc inmates l>c- 
 haved with tiie greatest decorum, and tlie occasion 
 was one of deep interest.* 
 
 " Lord's day, September 12th. Began the dulses 
 of this day under great conflict of miuii. Jn the 
 morning preached at the City-i{osi)ital. liodc to 
 Bellevue and officiated with some I'reedom dn the 
 chape], and to the blacks in tlie Penitentiary. In the 
 afternoon, again in the chapel; and iti the presence 
 of the congregation, I examined the children in their 
 catechisu), whose answers gave great satisfaction to 
 tlie asseinbly." 
 
 Pdonday, the 27lh, j\Ir. S. made pcvcral prcifitab'e 
 visits to out-door patients, two of whom were near 
 death. One of these, aged about twenty, received 
 Iicr first serious impressions under the ministry of 
 Mr. Stanford, and died in the triumphs of faith. 
 
 * Adjoining the City-Hospital is a considerable building, which, on 
 June 15, 1808, was appropriated for the recc{)tion of lunatic patients. A 
 few years after this, it was mentioned to tlie (lovernors of t!ie Hospital, 
 that if divine service could be performed, and an instrut ri\ e. consoliiJg 
 discourse delivered once a weelv to the more tranquil of the patients, tiic 
 compassionate Saviour might be pleased to accompany the effort with U'la 
 blessing. To this reconunendation they very cordially acceded, and ou 
 the afternoon of August 3Jst, 1819, the intended service commenced. 
 
 About forty of the most composed of t!ie patients were as^'cmblcd, nnd 
 several of the governors, the physicians of the house, and the snperin- 
 tendentof the Ilospital atteiidod on the occasion. 'I'he jiatienls conducted 
 with great propriety, and many, of their own accord, kneeled while prayer 
 was offered, and several expressed their thanks at tiio close of the service. 
 
 To a service of this kind, performed in a Lunatic Asylum, some medi- 
 cal gentlemen have objected, lliiit it liatl a tendency to discompose the 
 minds, and increase the malady of the i:atients. Su(li unfavourable 
 effects may indeed bi; produced by injudiciously selecting tliose- Fubjectd 
 which are ol" an alarming and perplexing nature, but the gospel an- 
 nounces the Saviour's power and grace, " To bind up ilic hokcn in heart, 
 and to heal all tlirir vnnnd:^." 
 
 Tor every alUiclioii h> which sinful man is heir, there is a remedy ia 
 tlie gospel of Christ, Luke iv. 18. 
 
 " Earth has no sorrow which heaven caimot lieal." 
 
 So far, thenifore, from the gospol being injurious to a lunatic, it is bea- 
 Ten's great Catholicon, i>rovided by the gre.it Fhysiciai! for the discou- 
 Bolate.
 
 MR. Stanford's labouk.s appreciated. 233 
 
 Tlmrsday, 2 1st. This day Mr. S. visited the 
 Bridewell, and found that Brown, the Catholic, sen- 
 tenced to be executed on the following day, had re- 
 jected his priest, crucifix, beads, A^c. and was much 
 concerned for the salvation of his soul. 
 
 On the foilou ing morning he went to the cell of the 
 condemned man, and preached to him Jesus, the only 
 Saviour of sinners. At twelve o'clock the prisoner's 
 chains were removed, and he was brought into the 
 yard, where, in the presence of a solemn multitude, 
 Mr. Stanford delivered an appropriate address, and 
 prayer ; after which the procession moved forward to 
 the place of execution. 
 
 In the month of November, Mr. Stanford was 
 unanimously elected a me.mijkr of the Society of 
 THE New-York llosriTAi,. This furnishes another 
 evidence of the high estimation entertained of his 
 I)rivate and public character. 
 
 " 3lst. Through divine mercy," says Mr. S. " I 
 have been assisted to preach this month, fifty-six 
 times.^^ And at the close of the month following, he 
 remarks — " Amidst hopes and fears, j)leasures and 
 pains, the liord has enabled me to preach forty-nine 
 sermons.'" And again, on the 31st of December — 
 " Thus the Lord hath helped mc yet another year, 
 amidst numberless infirmities, and enabled me, during 
 the year just closed, to \n ei\c\i fii'c /tund red and forty - 
 seven times.'^ 
 
 That the public services of Mr. S. were highly 
 appreciated, will appear from the following vote of 
 approbation. 
 
 " At a meeting of the Governors of the New- York 
 Hospital, first month, (January) 4th, 1820. 
 
 " A report was received from John Stanford. On 
 motion, resolved, that the report be accepted, and 
 that the assiduity and attention of John Stanford to' 
 his ardous, religions, and benevolent duties, meets 
 
 20*
 
 234 SIX SERMONS PREACHED IN ONE DAY. 
 
 with the cordial approbation of this Board ; and the 
 Secretary is directed to furnish him with a copy of 
 this minute. 
 
 " Extract from the minutes, 
 
 " THOMAS BUCKLEY, Secretary." 
 
 April 14th, 1820. Mr. S. visited, and gave a dis- 
 course in the men's hospital at Bellevue. This was 
 an affecting occasion. Criples of almost all ages, from 
 the child of ten, to the hoary head of fourscore years. 
 One man came from the next room, crawling on his 
 hands and knees, having lost both his feet. All 
 were solemn, and some inquired what they must 
 do to be saved. After this he visited and prayed in 
 several wards, in one of which he spent some time in 
 conversation with a pauper, seventy-three years old. 
 who was hardened in sin. A woman, at the great age 
 of ninety-eight years, gave good evidence of her dis- 
 cipleship, and love to Jesus Christ. After visiting 
 the female hospital, he preached in the Penitentiary, 
 and examined the boys in their catechism. Then 
 gave a discourse to the lunatics, and linished the 
 arduous duties of this day, with an examination of the 
 school. 
 
 On the 21st, he remarks — " It was gratifying to 
 see with what pleasure my poor people received this 
 day's visit. In every ward, the Bible was put into 
 my hands for reading, and in |)raycr they were seri- 
 ously engaged." 
 
 August 27th. This day Mr. S. preached no less 
 than six sermons in six different places, to several of 
 which he was under the necessity of walking. 
 
 Friday, September 15tli. lie preached y/r<7 /////<\s' 
 at Bellevue, and attended two schools, besides visiting 
 and praying with the sick. After this, he rode to the 
 State-Prison to sec George Vandcrpool, but he had 
 taken wiuic for heaven.
 
 NARRATIVE OB' GEORGE VANDERrOOL. 235 
 
 Tlic following brief extract from the narrative of 
 the life and death of George Vanderpool, is so truly 
 interesting, that we shall present it to the reader, 
 
 When criminals, doomed by the laws of their 
 country to an ignominious death, are brought to re- 
 pentance, and obtain salvation through our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, the joy of angels finds its counterpart 
 in the heart of every good man. This was verified 
 in the case of George Vanderpool, a young man of 
 colour, who, with Ishmael Frazer, was, on December 
 4tli, 1815, condemned to be executed for the crime of 
 arson, or, the burning of an inhabited dwelling-house 
 in Washington-street. 
 
 From a memorandum which Mr. Stanford received 
 from Vanderpool, in his own hand writing, it appears 
 that he was born free, in the year 1795. His father 
 died when he was eight years of age, and he was kept 
 at school by his mother until he was twelve. Has 
 mother was a very pious woman, and made a practice 
 of taking him with her to church, in this habit he 
 continueil, until the fatal period when he became the 
 victim of abandoned associates, from whom he learned 
 the demoralizing practice of gambling. This, ho 
 confessed, was the principal means of introducing 
 him to a desperate gang of men, in connection with 
 whom he eventually committed the crime for which 
 he was condemned to sufier an ignominious death. 
 
 " The day after sentence was passed upon these 
 two criminals," says Mr. S. " the Sherift"accompanied 
 me, to take the ministerial charge of them. The 
 outer-door of the prison whicli leads to the condemned 
 room being opened, 1 heard the piercing cries of irien, 
 imploring mercy from God. I found them chained 
 to the floor, and their faces greatly distorted by an 
 guish. After the Slierift" had informed them of the 
 intention of my visit, they renewed their lamentations 
 so violently, that it was dilVicult for me to address 
 them. As I was leaving the room, George wrung
 
 236 NARRATIVE OF GEORGE VANDEKPOOL. 
 
 his liands, and with tears gushing from his eyes, ex- 
 claimed, 'O that God woukl have mercy on my soul, 
 then I would willingly die!' 
 
 " By soothing advice, in a few days these unfor- 
 tunate men were able to listen to my admonitions, 
 with a degree of calmness. 1 folded down two or 
 three pages of scripture, particularly Isaiah i. 18 ; 
 requesting them to seek the Lord by jjraycr, to bless 
 his own word to their souls. I likewise gave them a 
 tract on ' The Way of Salvation,' and commended 
 them to the mercy of God. 
 
 " Early in the next week, I found the mother of 
 Vanderpool in the Bridewell, waiting to accompany 
 me to visit her son, for the first time since his con- 
 demnation. The )necling between them was too 
 affecting for description. The wretched son, covered 
 with shame, and tilled with remorse, had scarcely 
 power to embrace ])is mother. Overwhelmed with 
 grief, he exclaimed: — ' My mother, O my mother! 
 j)ray for my soul!' After such a scene, it was with 
 much difficulty I could compose my mind sufficiently 
 to |)ray for the j)risoners, and the unhappy female. 
 
 " On my next visit 1 fourul Vanderpool composed, 
 and attentively reading his Bible. With a deep sigh 
 George said, ' Sir, do you think there may be hope 
 of mercy for such a i)oor wretch as 1 am r' For h\s 
 encouragement 1 explained to him Micah \iii. 18, IJ), 
 and concluded my visit with |)rayer. 
 
 " At my next visit I was exceedingly gratified to 
 find them both in the exercise of penitence, and 
 reading their Bibles. From conversation, I could not 
 but indulge a hope, that (iod had shown George the 
 ini(piity of his heart. 
 
 " At my next visit Vanderpool lianded me his 
 Bible, and directed my attention to these words — 
 ' Come unto mc all yc iJiai labour and arc heavy laden, 
 and J will '^ive you rest.'' ' Tiiis,' said he, ' suits my 
 case.' AVIiile the tears were gushing from his eyes.
 
 KARIIATIVE OF CEOUGK N'ANDKRrOOI.. 2'i7 
 
 he exclaimed, ' O that the Saviour wotild fLilfil this 
 proniise to nie, nncJ give ine rest in his merry, then I 
 wouhl rather die than live, though I iniist he hinig.' 
 His ^riff was so overwhehniiii^, that I immediately 
 oflcred a prayer to the liOrd, ibr nicrfy to the sOul 
 of this unhai)i)y yotnig man. 
 
 " When ] saw him on the folkjwing day, A'andcr- 
 pool said, ' [ was reading the account of the death of 
 ('hrist, and took notice of his njcrcy to the ]>enitont 
 thief, which encouraged me to pray ihat tiie liord 
 woiiUl remember mc too.' As soon as George cottid 
 recover liis fcehngs, he adverted to a sermon I had 
 I'.^nt liim, preached in the State-Prison, (1815,) on t!ie 
 death of an unfortunate youth; which he said more 
 than any thing else convinced him of tlie necessity of 
 sincere repentance in the sight of God. I left him 
 with prayer, apparently more sensible than at my 
 former visit. 
 
 " The time appointed by the judge for the execu- 
 tion of these two criminals, now drew near. Van- 
 derpool said, ' To-morrow will be my last Sabbath 
 day on earth, and I pray to God, it may be the best 
 day I ever had. O, Sir, come and see us to-morrow. 
 Though 1 look forward to my execution on Friday, 
 I wonder how it is, I feel so resigned — I am sure it 
 must be from God. 1 can now with good confidence; 
 rej)eat that text you read to me last week — ' Info thy 
 hand I commit mij spirit: thou liast redeemed me, () 
 Lord God oftriifh.^ Psahn xxxi. 5. And here 1 u ish 
 to rest. May these be my last words.' 
 
 " Before 1 left the room, Frazer said to mc, ^ I 
 am more sorry for George than for myself. For ho 
 did not attempt to set fire to any place ; he did not 
 give any assistance, nor did he take any jjlunder.' 
 
 " Tuesday morning, while 1 was jircsent, the mo- 
 thers of tliese young men came to take their last I'are- 
 well of their sons. A scene this, which it is eepially 
 impossible for mc to describe, or ever to forget.
 
 238 NARRATIVE OF GEORGE VANDERPOOL. 
 
 " On Wednesday the high sheriff put into my hand 
 a document, which he had just received from his Ex- 
 cellency Daniel D. Tompkins, Governor of the State 
 of New-York, stating, that in the exercise of the par- 
 doning power vested in the executive, lie had com- 
 muted the sentence of George Vanderpool to confine- 
 ment in tlie State-Prison during his natural life. 
 This was in consequence of my communicating to the 
 (iovernor facts, which demonstrated the dili'erenco 
 between the two culprits, and recommending Vander- 
 pool to his clemency. For this result of my exertions 
 to save a human being from death, I shall always feel 
 grateful to God. 
 
 " By appointment, I met the Sheriff, with the other 
 officers, at the Bridewell, on the following day, for the 
 purpose of separating Vanderpool from his chains 
 and from his fellow-prisoner. As it was deemed 
 proper not to communicate the good news to him 
 until he could be removed into an adjoining room. It is 
 natural to suppose, that the sudden and unexpected 
 operation of knocking off his chains, threw him into 
 considerable agitation. When conveyed from his 
 cell, he was informed of the Governor's clemency, on 
 condition of perpetual imprisonment, which of course 
 he thankfully accepted. Fermission was then granted 
 to him to return to the cell, and take leave of the 
 miserable Frazer — the parting on both sides was ex- 
 tremely affecting. A coach was immediately pro- 
 vided, and without binding the prisoner, either with 
 chains or cords, I accomi)anied the Sheriff, to lodge 
 the young man within the walls of the State-Prison. 
 
 " On the entrance of Vanderpool, he appeared to 
 possess an unusual mixture of feeling. He was hum- 
 ble, thankful, solemn, and devout. From the head 
 kecjier and others, he received congratulations on 
 liis unexpected escape from death, accompanied with 
 suitable iiddresses, calculated to increase his gratitude 
 to God, and to teach him the great obligation he was
 
 NARRATIVE OF GKORGE VANDLRPOOL. 239 
 
 under, to observe a correct course of conduct, in con- 
 finement. And it is but justice to say, that during; hid 
 residence within the walls of the prison, for four years 
 and nine months, he conducted Iiimsclf with that pro- 
 priety, which secured the entire approbation of his 
 keepers, and the good will of all his unfortunate com- 
 panions. From repeated conversations with him, it 
 appeared evident that his hope' in Christ continued to 
 be firm ; and that notwithstanding the temptations 
 %vhicli surrounded him, it was his constant prayer 
 and only consolation, to walk humbly with God. 
 
 " One day, while in tlie yard with him, lie said, ' 1 
 cannot forget God's nicrcy to me when 1 was in the 
 Bridewell. It was great that he should save my life, 
 but a great deal more that he should save my soul. 
 I cannot forget how resigned I felt ; and the hope and 
 peace I had in the Saviour, when I looked for nothing 
 else but to be hung. I often wish 1 had the same 
 very happy feelings now; but I am thankful that 1 
 can still trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.' 
 
 " For several months, the health of Vanderpool 
 visibly declined, and finally teiminated in consump- 
 tion. This made it necessary for him to enter the 
 prison hospital, where I had frequent and satisfactory 
 conversations with him. 
 
 •' On Wednesday, the 12th of September, I found 
 him in bed, very ill, but perceived no symptoms 
 which indicated a speedy dissolution. After some 
 inquiries concerning the state of his mind, he assured 
 me that it was perf telly conij)0!>cd . ' That sweet text,' 
 said he, ' that you gave me in the Bridewell, I can 
 still repeat it with confidence — ' Tnfo tJty hand J com- 
 mit my spirit : thou hast rcdcc?iicd me, O Ijord God of 
 truihJ' I feel submissive to the Lord's will — all my 
 desires are to him.' Then looking at me with a 
 solemn countenance, he said, ' Sir, 1 am certain that 
 the day before I was to have been executed, I en- 
 joyed so much mercy and peace in my Saviour, that 
 if 1 had been hung, my soul now would be happy with
 
 ■240 EXTRAORDINARY AMOUNT OF LABOUR. 
 
 my God, ill heaven. I encouraged his liopc, and 
 comfoiteil his iiiiiul, by assuring him that God wa.-? 
 ever faitht'id, and that he had said ' / will never leave 
 thcc, nor forsake thee.'' Wlien, on his request, I had 
 oifered a prayer, with his hands clasped, he said — 
 ' RIy God, let thii j^rayer be fulhllcd on me.' Late 
 in tiie evening of this (lay, George, unexpectedly, and 
 without a groan-, sunk into the arms of death, aged 
 tvvcnty-iivc years. Thus, may we not say — ' Is not 
 iliia a brand yluekcd out of the fire ?' " 
 
 " Now Satan thou liast lost tliy aim, 
 Against this brand thy threats are vain ; 
 Jcjus has pluck 'd it iVoni the fiame, 
 And who shall put it in again ?" — Ncieton. 
 
 " Friday, the 1st December. Spent about an hour 
 with Gabriel Tlornan, a Jew, born in Poland, aged 
 seventy. He is now convinced of the necessity of em- 
 bracing Christ as the 3Iessiah." 
 
 During the month of August, Mr. Stanford preached 
 sixtii-six sermons. 
 
 December 31st. In this place it may not be im- 
 proper to state, that from a document now before us, 
 in the hand writing of our venerable friend, it ap- 
 pears, that in the space of fifteen years, in the hu- 
 mane and criminal institutions in our city, he preached 
 an average of Fouii hundred and ninety-sevkih 
 sermons each year, or uiorc than nine each week. 
 This fact, if contcm|datc(l in connection with his ad- 
 vanced age, and almost innumerable other duties, 
 presents an instance of ministerial zeal and diligence 
 which has few parallels in this or any other country. 
 But even this amoimt of labour was transcended 
 during the year 1820. 
 
 On the last day of this year, he remarks — "Blessed 
 be the name of the Lord my God for his abundant 
 mercy in sparing me another year, and enabhng me 
 to preach six hundred and ticenft/ times, or, eleven and 
 a half sermons each week."
 
 CHAPTER Xlil. 
 
 nV REQUEST OF TJIT. COINIMON COUNCIL, MU. STANFORD 
 AOAI.V VrSITS THE PUI5LIC INSTITUTIONS IN NEW-JEUSEY 
 AND PENNSVI-VANIA CONSTITUTION OF THE SOUTH BAP- 
 TIST CHURCH LETTER FROM REV. DR. COX INDEFATIGA- 
 BLE LABOURS. 
 
 On tlic 1st of January, 1821, Mr. Stanford remarks: 
 — " I have commented this year under great depres- 
 sion of mind, yet anxious still further to devote myself 
 to the service of God. Like the proj)het of old, while 
 I place the sacrifice upon the altar, the unclean birds 
 of wandering thought attempt to settle upon it, and it 
 is with great difficulty they are driven away. May 
 the Lord make me what he would have me to be, and 
 render my feeble services a blessing to my fellow- 
 creatures." 
 
 In the month of May, Mr. S. left home at the 
 particular request of the Common Council of New- 
 York, for the purjiose of examining the state of the 
 prisons in New-Jersey and Pennsylvania, and of re- 
 porting such facts as in his opinion might be calculated 
 to improve the })enitentiary system in this city. To 
 facilitate the objects of his mission, the Mayor of 
 New-York was directed to furnish him with a suitable 
 introduction to the municipal officers of Philadelphia. 
 
 A short time after his return, Mr. S. presented to 
 the Corporation, a written report of his mission, which 
 was printed by order of the Common Council. This 
 is a valuable document, and although it would preserve 
 the record of several interesting facts connected with 
 the history of American prisons, we regret that the 
 want of room, will not permit us to give an extract 
 in this place. 
 
 21
 
 :dv^ SHORT si:rm()Ns. 
 
 On September the 3d, Mr. Stanfurd was nttacked 
 by a violent bilious fever, which contimicd for rnanv 
 days; but in the midst of his suffering, he was heard 
 to say, " ' Father, glorify thine oicn name,'' — let this 
 affliction terminate in the glory of God, and the future 
 benefit of my people." 
 
 On the 20th of October, he says : — " The Lord 
 has assisted me to preach one hundred and sixtiz-mx 
 sermons during the last three months!" It may j)erhaps 
 be said, that his sermons were short. This is true ; 
 they did not often exceed thirty-five minutes ; but this 
 is to be regarded as a commenilabie excellence, wor- 
 thy of iuiitnlion. Mr. S. so far as we are able to 
 judge from his manuscripts, early habituated himself 
 to the sententious and brief, rather than the diffusive 
 method of preaching. In this he judged correctly, 
 that public speakers arc thereby preserved from tliat 
 preuiature oblivion into which a jjrolix preacher is in 
 great danger of sinking. He used to say to his stu- 
 dents in divinity: — " Never go into the })ulpit without 
 having something to say ; and be very careful always 
 to stop when you have done." 
 
 The following anecdote is peculiarly characteristic. 
 In his thirteenth lecture on the composition of ser- 
 mons, after many very judicious remarks, he says: — 
 *' I cannot (Icny myself the pleasure of stating, that 
 many years ago, 1 met with a ])lain, yet good old 
 minister, who, in conversation with me, on the subject 
 of the composition of a sermon, very pleasantly said: 
 — ' I know of no better rule, than the proportions ob- 
 servable in the structure of the human body. Let 
 your introduction be short, like the head of the man, 
 round, and full of expression. Make uj) the body of 
 your sermon, of the solids of divine truth ; but be sure 
 that Christ be the heart, and the Spirit of God, like 
 the lungs, to produce respiration. The legs, to run 
 after every class of your hearers; and a pair of arms 
 tenderly to embrace them.' This may appear to you
 
 FUNERAL OF JOHN WITIIINGTON. 243 
 
 a littlo fcincirul, but I must confess, however singular 
 tho description, yet, to tny mind, it seemed worthy of 
 being remembered." 
 
 January 1st, 1822. " Before 1 arose," says Mr. S. 
 " this New- Year's morning, the following text was 
 impressed upon my mind, as a word for the year. 
 ' Most, gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infir- 
 mities, that the poiver of Christ may rest upon me.^ 
 2 Corinthians xii. 9. Not my sinful infirmities, but 
 those of age, sickness, afliiction, and labour; that the 
 power of Christ's presence, grace, and love, may rest 
 upon me, to promote my sanctification and usefulness 
 to the end of my days. So let it be, O Lord !" 
 
 In the Annual Report of the Inspectors of the 
 State-Prison, j)resented to the Legislature of this 
 State in 1822, we find the following commendation 
 of our venerable friend. 
 
 " The morals of the prisoners continue to be 
 watched by the Rev. John Stanford, whose works of 
 love manifest that he has imbibed much of the spirit 
 of his divine Master. Under his superintendence, 
 the elementary branches of education still continue 
 to be taught — convicts are employed as teachers,_and 
 a spirit of emulation is manifested, worthy of better 
 circumstances." 
 
 Monday, the 28lh. He visited, for the first time, 
 the new Lunatic- Asylum, erected about eight miles 
 from this city, where he recognised a number of un- 
 fortunates of both sexes, to whom he had before 
 administered the consolations of the gospel, and who 
 expressed much satisfaction in again seeing him. 
 
 On the 28th of March, he delivered an address at 
 the funeral of his long tried friend Mr. John With- 
 ington, a much beloved and lamented deacon of the 
 Oliver (formerly Fayette) street IJaptist Church. 
 This good man, while living, was liberal and open 
 handed ; and at his death he consecrated more tlian 
 flFTV THOUSAND DOLLARS tO piouS purpOSCS.
 
 244 THE SOUTH BArTIt;T CHURCH. 
 
 Tuesday, the 25tli of April. He says: — " In the 
 morning I preached in the Bridewell, and afterwards 
 attended the constitution of the South Bajjtist Church 
 in Nassau-street, consisting oi' twelve meinhcrs, under 
 the pastoral care of the Ilev. Charles G. Soinmers."* 
 
 Wednesday, the iOth of .lane. He rode to the 
 Orphan-Asyliun, and at one o'clock delivered an ad- 
 dress, with other religi(v.is exercises, at the laying of 
 the corner-stone of a new wing to the building. t 
 
 * In the prosperity of this church, Mr. Stanford felt a deep interest ; 
 and the recollection of his unwavering friendship, is cherished by every 
 member, with gratitude and affection. The elegant Bible and Hymn 
 Book, now in the pulpit of the South Baptist Church, were presented by 
 Mr. S. as an expression of his attachment. 
 
 t The following is an extract from the address above alluded to : — 
 
 '' This morning, may not tiie orphans' friends exclaim, ' According to 
 this time, ichat hatji God icrouglit !' From the conmiencetnent of this in- 
 stitution, in the year ]8(JG, when the J.ord opened tlio hearts ol' a few 
 benevolent females, will) a design' to rescue ilitherless and motherless 
 children from poverty and distress, how many lia\e been the favours 
 which the Almighty has l)estovved, and how richly has he crowned their 
 efforts with success ! Wiio can behold that Okphav House, which, 
 through the aid of a generous public, was erected, and has still been sup- 
 plied, amidst scenes of discouragement, without indulgiug the most 
 grateful reflections on the kindness of Providence? We are now assem- 
 bled to witness a fiesh instance of the kind hand of the orphans' heavenly 
 Father, by being enabled to commence the erection of a Wing to the 
 building, for the greater acconnnodatioii of the increasing family ; and to 
 offer our fervent prayer to the IMost High God for its comjiletion. 
 
 " Upon this occasion, let us not forget to strew a few grateful flowers 
 upon this corner-stone, in remembrance of those departed female wor- 
 thies, who, after having laboured with us for many years, and witnessed 
 the prosperity of this humane institution, have ascended to the regions of 
 a blissful innnortality. — One (lower, in memory of Mrs. Sarah Hoffman, 
 who was niany years its first directress; another, for the a eiierabic Mrs. 
 Graham; another, for Miss Isaiiella W. Ogden. secretary to the board; 
 and another, for the late i\lrs. Startin. How deliglitfuliy the fragrance 
 of their virtues and benevolence still continues to perfunje this Orphan- 
 Aayhim ! Ungenerous would it he in us, upon this occasion, not to pro- 
 nounce, with gratitude, the worthy name of Jacob SlKMicd, Ilsc]. by wluiso 
 liberal bequest oi Jicc lliousattd dollars, this wing is inlended to be erected, 
 and inscribed to his memory. To you, Lahiks, who are still permitted 
 to live as guardians to these helpless children, what a pleasing sensibility 
 must you feel in rellecting on the many instances of divine bencfidence 
 which have attended your labours. Next to this, is the pious example of 
 your depru-ted associates; which, upon this occasion especially, will not 
 fail to ■ ■ ■ • '• ■■ . 
 
 surroun'J 
 
 incite you to unwearied exertions in favour of the children IhatnoxT 
 und you — for, ' Btnsscd are they who consider the poor and needy.' "
 
 LETTf.R FROM THE REV. DR. COX. 245 
 
 Lard's day mornini^, July 14th. lie says : — " I had 
 much tVoedoin in prcjicliing in the (.'ily-lIosj>ital, from 
 James ii. 23." The lucid and scriptural c.vj)osition of 
 this pissai^e, orii^iiially su^-i>estcd to his mind, in a 
 conversation with the llev. Dr. Cox, has been kindly 
 furnished in t!ie following letter. 
 
 '' New- York, Jans Wh, 1834. 
 
 *' Ri:V. A\l) DE\R .S!R, 
 
 '•1 have received your request, that I would con- 
 tribute something in the way of anecdote or incident, 
 touching my acquaintance with the late Rev. John 
 
 Tli3 misnn^ w^re raqaesteJ to prepare the corner-stone. With the 
 customary cereiuoay, the ilirectresses present laid it iu its place. The 
 orph:u» children in tlij yard, who were arranged around the spot, were 
 ujxt addressed. 
 
 •• Chilurkx. — You, this morning, witness a new instance of the Al- 
 mighty's kinduiiss, by preparing additional means for your accommoda- 
 tion. By tins increased expense, you must be convinced how much the 
 public, and your indidgent directresses, are interested in your welfare. 
 They are not only solicitous to provide for you a shelter, with"" necessary 
 food and clothing, but also with that portion of learning, which may con- 
 duce to your personal benefit, and future usiifulness in society ; especi- 
 ally, to give your tender minds that nural and religious instruction, 
 which, we hope, God will bless for your present and future happiness. 
 How important is it, that you now, • Remember ijoiir Cicator in the days uf 
 your yjttlli, white tlic evil days come not, nor tlic years draw nigh, when you 
 shidl say, I h-ioc no pleasure in them.' Many of you may bo permitted to 
 arrive at manhood; and when you enter into the |)ublic paths of life, 
 surely you will not forget your obligation for the many kindnesses you 
 have received in this orphan family. Nor will you easily forget the plea- 
 sure you this morning enjoy, as witnesses to the laying of this corner- 
 stone ; which, no doubt, will increase your gratitude to God, as the 
 orphans' guide and friend. 
 
 " It is presumed that you, the Workmen engaged in erecting this 
 building, will cultivate a generous feeling upon the occasion. Possibly 
 you may litive families and children of your own; and as the time of 
 your death is uncertain, they also may be left orphans, and need aa 
 asylum among the children that now surround you, we indulge a cheer- 
 ing confidence in your fidelity and energy while pursuing the present 
 design. Let rao likewise remind you, that you have souls to be saved or 
 lost. Fly then to the arms of that compassionate Saviour, who alone caa 
 give you rest, peace, and blessedness, in the cheering hope of entering 
 into that ' house not made witli hands, eternal in tiie heavens.' " 
 
 The sers'ices were concluded with a fervent and peculiarly appropriate 
 prayer. 
 
 31*
 
 246 LETTER FROM THE REV. DR. COX. 
 
 Stanford, D. D., which might in any degree vary the 
 contents, and possibly enrich the interest of the me- 
 moir, whici), at the assignment and desire of surviv- 
 ing relatives of the deceased, it is your ofHeeand yQur 
 purpose to prepare. Sincerely do 1 wish that my 
 knowledge of that venerable man had been so exten- 
 sive or intimate as to warrant me, with confidence, to 
 comply, according to the full measure of your wishes. 
 
 " We occasionally, and even frequently., nset, in 
 scenes and relations where personal familiarity was 
 mainly precluded; but never where the respect and 
 reverence, which his personal character inspired, 
 were not welcomed and acknowledged. His life was 
 of an even tenor, with that ' meek and quiet apiril, 
 which is in the si^ht of God of great j;r/t'c.' Hence, 
 while he was so extensively, I might say universally, 
 revered in our city, his life seems to have passed 
 with few of those great events which emblazon the 
 name of their subject, attract the notice of mankind, 
 and si)eak to the wonder of posterity. His honours 
 came from God. They belong to another v.orld. 
 They budded in time, but their bloom is in eternity. 
 
 "I will only rehearse, from imperfect memory, an 
 incident which endeared Di'. Stanford to my esteem; 
 and which, while it indicated his character, is surely 
 adapted to be useful. Its example may attract imi- 
 tation — its temper may teach mankind — its sentiment 
 may benefit the soul — its story will be grateful to the 
 Christian. 
 
 *' On a melancholy occasion, some years since, I 
 was sent for, to visit a poor felon in chains, and then 
 condemned to expiate, on the gallows, the critnc of 
 murder. Such scenes have always been to me so 
 trying, that never, for their own sake, could I get my 
 own consent to visit them. In this instance the re- 
 quest was special, and the obligution apprehended. 
 It was winter ; dreary seemed the aspect of nature 
 that day; and drear and wintry were n)y feelings, in
 
 LETTER FROM THE REV. DR. COX. 247 
 
 sympathy witli the condemned fellow-creature with 
 wiioni 1 expected soon to confer, respecting his im- 
 mortal interests, and the foundation of his liope for 
 the hastening wonders of another world. On enter- 
 ing the antechamber of his prison, I found that the 
 main keeper was absent, and his subaltern, the turn- 
 key of the place, had no instructions that would con- 
 sist with permission to introduce me to the gloomy 
 apartment. The alternative was to wait the return 
 of the keeper. I had scarcely taken my seat, near 
 the fire, for this purpose, when Dr. Stanford appear- 
 ed, liaving arrived there with a similar design towards 
 nmny prisoners, in prosecuting the duties of his of- 
 ticial station. He sat near me, and, as both waited, 
 we conversed on different tO})ics for a length of time. 
 This was the longest and the most interesting inter- 
 view I ever remember to have enjoyed with your 
 venerable friend and mine. I was struck with his 
 knowledge of the peculiarities, and the personal 
 history seemingly of each of the miserable inmates, 
 as an object of liis pious care. He very lucidly ex- 
 plained the evil merits of the felon with vvhoiii I was 
 lo converse, interspersing such correct and Christian 
 counsels as seemed suited to his deplorable condition. 
 He was to die in a day or two, and no reprieve was 
 expected or ultimately obtained. He had liimself 
 justly abandoned a hope so unhappily illusive to many 
 in liis circumstances. 1 listened with interest to the 
 observations of the good old man, that 1 miglit learn 
 something of the duties I was soon to perform, and 
 ])repare myself for their competent discharge. After 
 analyzing the whole case very properly and well, his 
 remarks naturally glided into gen(M-al truths or ^re- 
 flections of a kindred sort, that might suit and profit 
 all men. 
 
 " The importance of prejiaration for dcoth ; (he 
 greatness of such an attainment ; its probable infre- 
 (jucticy ; the substitutes and specious delusions of sin-
 
 248 LETTER FllOM THE REV. DR. COX. 
 
 ners ; and the special liableness of a felon, in the 
 time of liis extremity, to mistakes and perversions of 
 a peculiar character. These were some of the allied 
 topics, from which the transition was easy, to a con- 
 templation of what it was to be prepared. This he 
 familiarly and happily showed, by the adduction of a 
 very appropriate passage of scripture, and by its fa- 
 miliar and ready expansion and use. That passage 
 I distinctly remember, and also the manner in which 
 he treated it. It was the declaration contained in 
 James ii. 23 — Concerning the father of the faith- 
 ful, and happily evincive of the piety of that noble 
 patriarch in its nature and relations — ' And the scrip- 
 ture was fuIJU'ed, which saith, Abraham believed Gody 
 and it was imputed unto him for righteousness ; and. he 
 was called the friexd of God.' It was the last sen- 
 tence mainly on which he laid the stress of his views ; 
 and his position, as I recollect, was substantially this, 
 * He only is prepared for death, who is the friend of 
 God.'' lie indeed referred expressly and well to the 
 medium of reconciliation, and the way of attaining 
 it, through our Lord Jesus Christ; while the force of 
 his observations affected more the fact of it, as iden- 
 tified with friendship so divine. He remarked, that 
 a sinner, as every one is by nature, can be justified 
 only by faith in Jesus Christ, and thus having righte- 
 ousness imputed unto him, he is accepted as righteous 
 in Christ, who is ' the end of the law for righteousness to 
 every one that believeth.^ Yet while he clearly made this 
 averment, respecting the only possible and the thrice 
 glorious method of a sinner's justification before God, I 
 was pleased, 1 own, to listen to the positions as quickly 
 subjoined, redounding to the prostration of all anti- 
 nomianism; namely, that no man was sojustified who 
 was not the friend of God ; that no man was the friend 
 of God, who was not so justified ; that this was happi- 
 ness and holiness, as well as justification ; that this, 
 and this indispensably, constituted preparation for
 
 LETTKIl FROM THE RF.V. DR. COX. 249 
 
 death; that heaven itself wonhl l)e as disa^reeahlc, as 
 impossible, without it ; that those were fi\ed princi- 
 ples, and revealed ones loo, in tlic divine eoonainy ; 
 and that we, who view^ed ourselves as the distinguish- 
 ed subjects, through grace, of such a blessed trans- 
 formation, would necessarily show it in all ap[)topri- 
 atc ways, especially in that exalted and divine one, 
 of imitating Christ and God, in endeavouring to l)ring 
 others to its incomparable acqui.'»ition and experience. 
 
 " After this general or large expatiation on the 
 theme, he seemed to fix his view more narrowly and 
 analytically on the idea of — being the friend of God. 
 I thought, at first, from a professional sympathy, that 
 probably he had just been preaching on it, and there- 
 fore was especially impressed with the subject, liut 
 more reflection changed the opinion. lie seemed 
 rather struck and penetrated at the time, with that 
 unlimited and identifying characteristic of Abraham, 
 as descriptive of the genuine Christian, common to 
 the whole church invisible, and demonstrative of the 
 communion of saints ; and 1 judged him rather as pur- 
 posed or inclined to preach on it in future, than to 
 have summoned from the reminiscences of past ser- 
 vice the relics of a sermon. As nearly as I can now 
 remember, he spoke of it as suggesting a very profit- 
 able train of thought for a popular discourse, and 
 also proposed impromjjtu an elligible plan, much in 
 the following style of converse propositions and ready 
 antithesis. At all events, his felicity of varying the 
 aspects of the subject was usefid to myself, in the way 
 at. least of impression and retention in regard to it. 
 
 " What is it to be l/ie friend of God? 
 
 " What, for God to be our friend .'' 
 
 " What relation has this friendship existing in 
 cither party towards the other, to reciprocity and mu- 
 tual perfect ness f 
 
 " What is preparation for death, as related to this 
 friendship P
 
 250 LETTER FROM THE REV. DR. COX. 
 
 " How many are probably prepared on this prin- 
 cij)le ? 
 
 " How many are probably deluded ? 
 
 " Wiiat is the condition of the enemies of God ? 
 
 " What will become of any or all of us, if we live 
 and die without bein<^ each tlie friend of God'^ 
 
 " What is the nature of our faith in God, throu<rh 
 the gospel, and what its promise, if in its exercise 
 and possession we are not so conciliated and attached 
 as tl)e friends of God ? 
 
 " As the conversation occurred several years since, 
 1 do not pretend to forensic accuracy of report or 
 graphic correctness of representation. My general 
 impressions had a corresponding cause, and I have 
 aimed faithfully to transcribe its recorded effects from 
 the tablet of memory. It is pleasant, and better 
 than pleasant, now that he ' sleeps in Jesus,'' for me to 
 recall some of the indications as then portrayed in his 
 living character, the belter because incidental and 
 iinproposed, by which my confidence is sustained in 
 the happiest conclusions, that his spirit is glorified in 
 the third heavens, among kindred myriatis of the 
 friends of God. How mean were other monuments, 
 however costly or magnificent, were they purchased or 
 reared in their pompous imbecility, to perpetuate his 
 fame, on which the angel of truth could not imprint 
 the attestation — He was the friend of God ! As 
 it is, such monuments are superseded and useless. 
 Every such pile of mouldering grandeur, advertises 
 to reflection the vanity of its pretensions ; and in 
 contrast or disjunction, as is too commonly the case 
 with the authentication of evangelical piety, is worse 
 than an ungiiulged oblivion. It is here that, in the 
 estimates of the wise, it 
 
 ' Loses disconntenanc'd, and lilvc folly shows it.' ^ 
 
 ]Jut, in the example of consistent piety, you see a 
 blessedness substantial and eternal. It is as much
 
 DIANA SELLICK SAVED FROM THE CALLOW.-, 251 
 
 superior to the honours of this worlil, as its sources 
 arc higher, its spirit purer, its rewards better, its 
 date more durable, and its coronation more glorious. 
 ' JSLirlc the perfect man, and behold the uprii^hl : fur the 
 end of that man is peace. But the irttns<>rrssors shall 
 he destroijeil together ; the end of the leieked ahull be cut 
 off. But the sal cation of the righteous is of the Lord : 
 he is their strength in time of trouble. And the Lord 
 shall help them, and deliver thetn: he shall deliver them 
 from the icickcd, and save thou, because tJirjj trust in 
 him.'' 
 
 " Tliat cnch of us, my respected brother, may be 
 the friend of God not only, but our offspring and our 
 |)eople with us, and ourselves instrumental in con- 
 ciliating thous:inds of others, is th.e prayer of your 
 friend and brother in the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 " SAMUEL H. COX." 
 
 Lord's day, December 1st. Pilr. S. says: — " In the 
 four sermons j)reached this day, I was greatly assisted 
 by the Lord. In prayer I was indulged with a great 
 degree of holy communion with my God. Indeed, I 
 would rather enjoy liberty in prayer than in preach- 
 ing, yet I find they generally go together. The after- 
 noon's discourse was on the death of Diana Selliclc, 
 whom, some years ago, I was the instrument in 
 gaving from the gallows."* 
 
 * Tliis is tlie second instaiicf; in which the clear-sighted and dipcrimi- 
 nalin^ aiind of l\Ir. Stanford enabled hini to investigate the circumstances 
 ppon which the capital conviction of two criiiiinals had been predicated, 
 and iu which, by ilHciting facts, that had before escaped notice, he was 
 enabled to obtain for them the clemency of the Execntive ; and thus be- 
 came the instruinent of saving not merely their natural life, but their 
 •ouU, as they were both converted to God undjr his subsequent ministry.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 f;OMMEXC:r:S the YF.AU under. IMKxXTAL depression ItE' 
 
 SOLVES TO LAISOUJI WITH INCREASING DILIGENCE DAN- 
 
 OLUOl.S ILLNESS — DEATH OF WILLIAM STANFORD EXPLO" 
 
 SION OF THE STEAM-BOAT .ETNA MEMORIAL. 
 
 January 1st, 1823, Mr. Stanford remarks ;—" This 
 year commenced without that full degree of humble 
 and spiritual desire towards the Lord which my heart 
 auticijiated. The weather was dark and stormy — 
 too much resembling the state of my heart. Time 
 with me cannot but be short. May the ].iOrd make 
 me useful while I live, and faithful until I die, and 
 then in mercy, through a gracious Redeemer, receive 
 my soul into hisj'est for ever." 
 
 Mr. Stanford to the Hon. Nicholas Brown, A. M. 
 
 '' Neif-York, Avgnsi 2Sth, 1823. 
 
 " MY \\T.M\ FRIEND, 
 
 " This afternoon Mr. Barnes handed me your letter, 
 dated the 2Ctl), and which demands my most affec- 
 tionate and early acknowledgments. Gratified sliould 
 [ be to accept your friendly invitation to your house, 
 at the commencement, and the Warren Association ; 
 but the time is so short, and few of the clergy of any 
 denomination being in town at this season, I am 
 unable to ])rocnrc adc(inate suj)plies to attend my 
 eigiit congregations, in the event of my absence. 
 The Honourable the Blayor and Corporation of this 
 city have e.\j)ressed a wish, that I would visit Boston 
 this fioason, for the purpose of examining all their 
 public institutions, with the design of improving our 
 own. Should the God of mercy enable me to comply
 
 LF.TTER TO THK HO.\. NICHOLAS BROWN. 263 
 
 with your request, it would alVord me peculiar plea- 
 sure to <;ee you on the way- 
 
 " Will you bciu" with me in my folly, if folly it may 
 he called? Your letter produced a train of reflections, 
 which carried me back at least thirty years. Your 
 family, your honoured father, INicholas, Obadiah, 
 Hope, and Tommy Ives ; the church, the college, the 
 town, and its poor: ah! the remembrance of all these 
 rushed upon my mind so forcibly, that I could not 
 withhold the falling tear. Yes, I did love you — I 
 tried, in the strength of my God, to promote the 
 general good-^I love you still, and pray for the 
 blessing of my Lord to rest upon you all. Yes, those 
 days and those connexions still survive in my heart, 
 and my earnest prayer shall be continued, that the 
 choicest personal and social blessings may rest upon 
 you. 
 
 " I have heard so much of the extensive improve- 
 ments of the college, through your munificence, that, 
 I must confess, 1 have often indulged a strong desire 
 again to see that noble, and now magnificent institu- 
 tion. As for my old acquaintance in the town, I 
 presume few are now in the land of the living. Still, 
 if favoured with an opportunity, I should like to em- 
 ploy a day, in once more walking in the streets of 
 Providence, and expressing my good wishes for the 
 prosperity of its inhabitants. 
 
 *' With sincere regards, your's, 
 
 " JOHN STANFORD." 
 
 While in Philadelphia on a visit, in August, Mr. S. 
 remarks: — "This evening my James offered the 
 family prayer." This was a young lad whom Mr. S. 
 liad taken out of the Poor-House to serve as a do- 
 mestic, and for whose conversion it pleased God to 
 bless the religious instruction imparted in the family. 
 His case was quite remarkable; possessed of talents 
 far above mediocrity, and embued wiih the spirit of 
 
 22
 
 254 CONCERN FOR THE WELFARE OF MARINER 
 
 a most exemplary piety, it is not surprising that he 
 was, like others, through Mr. Stanford's instrumen- 
 tality, rescued from moral degradation and poverty, 
 and restored to virtue and prosperity. 
 
 September 2Gth. Mr. S. writes : — "It has j)ieased 
 God, this montli, to lay upon me his atflicting hand, 
 and many of my friends resigned all hope of my 
 recovery. A severe affection of the chest ol)liged me 
 to maintain a sitting posture both day and night* 
 The physician? in attendance could afford but little 
 relief; but that blessed Lord, who always appoints the 
 means adapted to the end, unexpectedly furnished 
 me with a remedy from Dr. Alexander U. Stevens, 
 which produced the most beneficial effects. May the 
 Lord so sanctify this visitation, that if spared a little 
 longer, it may bo to his glory and the good of my 
 fellow-creatures." He so far recovered from this 
 severe indisposition, as to be able to resimie his active 
 duties, and we find him recording in his diary, at 
 the end of the succeeding month, this extraordinary 
 fact — " This month, to me has been a season of great 
 pain, and great mercy, so that i have been enabled 
 to preach fftij sermons, besides performing a large 
 amount of other duty." 
 
 Mr. Stanford's concern for the welfare of seamen, 
 was evinced as early as the year 1815, by the follow- 
 ing article, printed in the Mercantile Advertiser. It 
 is here inserted without reference to date. 
 
 '' To Shipping Merchants and of hers, whom this may 
 concern. 
 
 «« GENTLEMEN, 
 
 " As by the favour of the Almighty, we are now 
 emerging from the horrors of war, and the consequent 
 devastation upon commerce, it becomes the duty, 
 especially of pid)lic citizcms, to make every exertion 
 which may tend to improve the blessing of peace. 
 Among the numerous subjects which now demand
 
 ANOTHER BENKVOLKiNT PLAN PROrObED. 255 
 
 our attention, the improvement of navigation and 
 commerce must be deemed of the highest importance. 
 It is presumed, that under this impression the Pre- 
 sident of the United Slates, in a message to both 
 houses of Congress, has recommended to their con- 
 sideration, as a means of ' cultivating harmony with 
 other nations,' the poHcy of exchiding foreign sea- 
 men, and navigating American vessels exchisively by 
 American seamen, either natives, or such as are 
 ah'eady naturahzed. What measure Congress rnay 
 adopt at a future period, to bring this into effect, is 
 uncertain. But, it is certain, that in proportion to 
 the increase of commerce will be the demand for 
 able mariners, and means should be pursued in order 
 to produce them. 
 
 " Strong exertions have been made, and are still 
 making, to train up youths both for the defence and 
 the honour of America; and these are under the 
 immediate superintendence of the general naval de- 
 partment. 
 
 *' Commerce must be maintained by seamen pro- 
 duced from other sources, and by a different method; 
 and I am the more explicit in this address to the in- 
 liabitants of New-York, as this city takes the highest 
 rank among the commercial cities of America. 
 
 " To you, therefore, gentlemen, as merchants, and 
 the most deeply interested in the improvement and 
 increase of commerce from this port, 1 beg leave to 
 suggest the utility of establishing a Public Marine 
 School, for the improvement of those who are 
 inclined to sea service ; which may speedily promise 
 a greater supply of able American seamen, and, of 
 course, preclude the necessity of taking foreign cap- 
 tains or sailors into the merchant service. I would 
 respectfully recommend — 
 
 " That for this bovjicial jntrpose, a society of meV' 
 chants be formed — the school to be a permanent estab- 
 lishment ; and the uhole to be under ike cxchsive
 
 256 IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATING SEAMEN^ 
 
 government of a hoard of directors, or governors, an- 
 7iuaUt/ elected hy Ike sociely. 
 
 " Let merchants who are impressed with the 
 utility of such an institution, devote an hour for the 
 consideration of the proposed object, whether for its 
 rejection or its promotion. On the plan, order, 
 government, resnin-c(!S, anJ a|)piication of funds, 
 though I niigiit ofler sonse fjeneral oui lines, it is noi 
 my province piroiicly to coaimunicale them. How- 
 ever, I will venture to say, in relation to teachers for 
 a Marine School, it has many years been n)y impres- 
 sion, that, experienced sea captains, disabled by age 
 or by misfortune, are the most eliijible, and the com- 
 pensation allowed them may contribute to make them 
 a ' snug harbour.' Wliethor this school be free or 
 not, provision should be made for a certain number 
 of boys, inclining to the marine life, whose parents 
 are or have been captains or pilots, especially in our 
 waters, but who are now unfortunately reduced in 
 health or circumstances; that such youths be educated 
 gratuitously. Thus public benefit and benevolence 
 would happily combine. 
 
 " Should this recommendation meet with appro- 
 bation, and be adopted, it is possible that your ex- 
 ample may be followed by other cities and large towns 
 immediately concerned in commerce; consequently 
 the object will become more extensively beneficial. 
 At any rate, those whom you may educate, would more 
 immediately be considered as your own sailors ; and, of 
 course, be more attached to your service and interest. 
 
 " It is only necessary, g(!ntlemen, for me to add, 
 that this addroKS is from the pen of a citizen, 
 whose public station in life perfectly excludes him 
 from the shadow of sus|)icion of any further benefit 
 from the subject than the gratification of contri- 
 buting, in some small degree, to the interests of the 
 community. 
 
 " AMERICUS.
 
 LETTER FROM CAPTAIN PERRY, U. S. N. 257 
 
 " P. S. Insurance companies, unquestionably, will 
 be highly interested in the proposed institution. For 
 it will not be denied, that many a vessel has been 
 lost for the want of able navigators; as, on the death 
 of the cajitain and mate, no j)er!r;on on board was 
 found competent to take the command. On the part, 
 therefore, of the merchant, and the company, this 
 object may produce incalculable advantages." 
 
 The following letter from the brother of Commo- 
 dore Perry, will be read with interest, and, at the 
 same time, furnish an additional e\ idcnce that Mr, 
 Stanford's eftorls were not limited. lie seems to have 
 regarded the whole world as the field of his labours. 
 
 Ncw-Yorh, January 26th, 1824. 
 
 *' REV. AM) DEAR SIR, 
 
 " I acknowledge, with great pleasure, the receipt 
 of your valuable communication of the 24th instant, 
 and feel highly gratified with your approbatory re- 
 marks, in favour of my plan for introducing appren- 
 tices into our naval service. I agree most cordially 
 with you. Sir, that it ' i)romiscs the uu/j/ wa} to pro- 
 cure a succession of able sailors for the navy,' and 
 must (shoidd the plan be adopted,) prove an incalcu- 
 lable benefit, not only to our maratime prosperity, 
 but to the community at large, more especially to the 
 population of our lari^e cities. 
 
 " I see no reason why ' Court-Boys,' as they are 
 termed, should be excluded from the advantages of the 
 arrangement. For should their vicious propensities 
 prevent their rising above the rank of a common sailor, 
 even in this station they would be extremely useful to 
 the country. But, it is to be hoped, that the application 
 of the sound and wholesome discipline of our navy, 
 would have a tendency to check, if not entirely eradi- 
 cate, those juvenile faults, which, in most instances, 
 grow out of idleness and the neglect of parents.
 
 a 
 
 268 DEATH OF WILLIAM STANFORD. 
 
 " The generally received oj)inion of landsmen, that 
 a ' vessel of war' is a receptacle of vice and wicked- 
 ness, is founded in error. Shut up as the crew must 
 be, in a small compass, at all times under the watch- 
 ful and superintending eyes of their otficers, who are 
 clothed with almost unlimited power to punish every 
 violation of dist-ipline, it is impossible for them to in- 
 dulge their evil propensities; anil, by turning their 
 attention to the pleasing and active employments of 
 a seafaring life, they will forget their early habits, 
 and learn, at last, the old maxim, that ' honesty is the 
 best policy.^ 
 
 " I thank you, my dear Sir, for the pamphlets you 
 were good enough to send me. I have perused them 
 with much attention, and am of the opinion that they 
 are admirably calculated to do good aboar<l our ships 
 of war. I shall make it a point to distribute those in 
 my possession amongst the men under my command. 
 " With sentinicnts of great respect, 
 " I am, dear Sir, 
 
 " Your most obedient servant, 
 
 "xM. C. PERRY."' 
 
 " Saturday, February 28th. Received the sad 
 news of the death of my son William, at St. Kitts, 
 West-Indies, which made a deep impression upon my 
 heart." Yet, on the I'bllowing Sabbath, he adds: — 
 " Notwithstanding the state of my mind, I ventured 
 on the Lord's work. Preached in the City-IFospital 
 in the morning, and twice in the State-Prison chapel 
 in the afternoon, and again in the guard-house. The 
 Lord was good and gracious to me in his blessed 
 work." 
 
 On the 23d of Ai)ril, he says: — '-J visited tho 
 hospital at liellevuo, and afterwards gave a discourse 
 in the school-room, to nciirly two Imudred cliildren." 
 
 On the morning of the l(5lh, Mr. Slaufud went to 
 the City-Hos])ital, where an uj)[)alliug scene awaited
 
 AWFUL STEAM-BOAT EXPLOSION. 259 
 
 him. Nine persons, dreadfully scalded by the explo- 
 sion on board of the steam-boat ^Etna, had been 
 broiifj^lit in on the previous evening. Two females 
 died in the night, and ("our others expired in a few- 
 days. He imiiiediately went np to converse and pray 
 with each of the seven survivors, who were flistributed 
 in different apartments. 
 
 On the 23d of May, 1824, Mr. S. delivered a sermon 
 from Job xxiv. 22, intended as a n)oral improve- 
 ment of the calatnity occasioned l)y the explosion, by 
 which several valuable lives were lost. The sermon 
 was followed by an account of the last hours, and 
 dying exj.erience, of six out of the nine mutilated 
 snflcrers, who were brought to the Hospital.* 
 
 • Tlie following extract will, it is hoped, he acceptable to the reader : — 
 
 " Had I been on deck at the d<>partiire of the ves!=el, opened my f3ible, 
 and then read to the assembled passengers, the words of Job — ' A't) /nan 
 is sure oj life' possibly it might have been deemed premature; each one 
 anticipating: a speedy passage, u safe arrival at the city, and a warm re- 
 ception lo the bosom of their friends. How inscrutable ave the ways of 
 God wit!i man ! Ilov.- nnforeseen are the alternate changes of prosperity 
 and adversity, of life and death, which attend onr paths ! fc'o true it if. 
 ' We know not what a day iiiay hringforth.' 
 
 " At seven o'clock, just as the sun was withdrawing his beams, and 
 the passengers were within si'iht of the city, and anxious to arrive, 
 the centre boiler, exploded as with the voice of thunder. So tremen- 
 dous was the coiicns.sion, that the deck was torn from its timbers ; 
 ihe various accommodations for passengers were destroyed, and the frag- 
 ment.s scattered in every direciion, exhibiting a spectacle of complete 
 devastation. But what were those, when compared with the horrible 
 destrncliou of human beings ! The iinpetuou.s steam, in its fnry, rushed 
 into the after-cabin, whicli wn.s allotted for tho saf;ty and repose of the 
 femaK) passengers. Several of these were scalded to death, and lay pros- 
 trate in t!ie most shocking condition. 
 
 " This cabin was not the only place w'oere destruction and misery were 
 produced; the steam in a inom.nnt filled every other apartment, and de- 
 Mtroyed every thing wliich obstruried its course, tfome human beings 
 were externally scalded am! torn, while others still mure unf irtunate, by 
 inhaling the steani, were literally filled witii its direful cfTects, and in- 
 capable of expressing the anguish they endmed. Ti;e cries and shrieks 
 of the sufferers penetrated the sovds of the few on deck wiio had escaped 
 the fiery deluge, and presented to their view a scene more dreadful than 
 language can describe! 
 
 " The whole number of persons on board the /Etna, is stated to have 
 been thirty-four. 
 
 " Of those who first fell in death, by this accident, the family of Mr. Job
 
 260 DYING EXPERIENCE OF THE SUFFEIII RS. 
 
 Wednesday, October 20th, he writes: — " This is 
 my birth-day — arrived at my 70th year. My feelings 
 
 Furman, well known and respected in this cit\% have been the greatest 
 sufferers. Early in the morning of Satiu'day, Mrs. 8arah Furman, Mrs. 
 Merserole, their daughter, iMary Furman, sistf^r of Mr. Furman, and Miss 
 Caroline Furman, neice of Mr. Fmnian, only ten years ol'age; all these, 
 in the enjoyment of full health, left the city to pay the last expression of 
 friendship, by attending the same afternoon, at Elizabeth-Town, the 
 funeral of Mrs. Prince, who was a niece of Mr. Furman. While at that 
 house of mourning, the inl'uit of the deceased expired. It was immediately 
 dressed in its shroud, and placeil in the cold arms of its mother, ia the 
 same coffin, and both conveyed to the silent grave. Under the solemn 
 influence of this scene of mortality, they entered on board of the ^Ina, 
 no doubt in the expectation of returning in safety to their habitation. We 
 all know the lively emotion whicli expectation inspires for the return of 
 absent friends; and such was the anticipatioii of Mr. F. as the day de- 
 clined. At last the sunset — thecurtain of night dropped — expectation grew 
 stronger, and yielded to impatience — they arrived, not in health and ac- 
 tivity, but fast bound in the fetters of death ; while their mangled bodies 
 exhibited a spectacle too appalling for description Dreadfid was the 
 dome-^tic anguish — deep and heart-rending. A speedy interment wa.s 
 deemed indispensable, and on the next afternoon, the four bodies were 
 buried in one grave. 
 
 " At ten o'clock on Saturday night, nine of those unfortunate sufferers 
 were brought to tlie door of the Hospital. Some of them, owing to their 
 man£;led condition, were conveyed on litters, and others in coaches. 
 Their agonies and cries broke in upon the stillness of the night, and ren- 
 dered the scene most awfully affecting. J'lvery exertion which humanity 
 or medical skill could devise, were employed for their relief. 
 
 '• Ann Douglierty, aged about thirty, inhaled a largo portion of steam, 
 and was externally scalded in a shocking manner. Slie, however, wa.s 
 supported by the hand of iier Saviour, and gave a happy evidence of the 
 power of religion, under the sharpest disfiess. As this female died in tho 
 night on which she came in, I am indebted to the women who occupy 
 the same ward, for my information, and from whose testimony the follow- 
 ing statement may be received as correct. Previous to her entering on 
 board the steam-boat, she had an impression u]ion her mind, that she 
 should not live long; and, on taking leave of a (;hrisli:in friend, siie cut 
 off a lock oilier hair, and gave it to her as a memorial of affection, saying, 
 ' I do not expect to see you a'.'ain.' Soon as her wounds were dressed, 
 fihe said, ' I thank (jod for this accident; I shall the sooner go to my 
 heavenly Father's home.' A pious woman went to her bed and asked 
 her, ' Js Jesus, the Saviour, precious lo you?' She replied, ' O, yes, he 
 is precious to me ;' and raising her voice as much as possible, she said 
 ' I want you all to seek and love the Lord.' A little after, she said to one 
 of her attendants, ' I dare not say this is hard, though it may seem so.' 
 This person asked h(!r if she could (Fo any tiling liir her; to which she 
 replied, ' No, the Lord will do all things well for mo.' 'i'he nurse observ- 
 ing the position in which she lay, asked her if her pillow did not .seem 
 hard. With peculiar emfihasis she aiisw(;red. '(), no; Jesus can make 
 ii dying bed feel soft as downy pillows are.' ' I am sorry to sec you suffer
 
 A MF-M0R5AL OF I HF. L011I;'ri GOOI-Nr.-.S. 201 
 
 on this oi'casion nrc iuini;!f;(i with !iiiini!ltv and ^jnU- 
 tude, but. not a seventieth pjut o(" wliat ! could wish, 
 or what they oa<>lit to be" The. {'ollowifig extrart 
 will more luily disclose the f<,(^!inys of iii.s grateful 
 heart on this occasior.. 
 
 " A Meniorial of the Lord's GooiJnes?:, written on 
 the day ot'coii)j)!eiing the seventieth year of my age, 
 October 2iilh, l8-2-l~' T/iou hast dealt with thy ser- 
 vant, O Lord, according vnt'o i!iy icord.'' Ftalrn 
 cxix. Go. 
 
 " I can find no words in tlie peripturcs more ap- 
 propriate as a motto, than that which I have selected 
 from the Psalms of David. They certainly express 
 
 80 niHch.' ' Ye.i, Idosuft'c; biU wliat are my suffenngs when com- 
 pared with what Christ eufi'c.ed for us? I am willing to suffer any way 
 my Lord shall please ; and to die any doatli, by which he thinks proper to 
 take me to himself About four o'clock she bepaii to fail, and with soiemn 
 accents said, ' U is ahnost done — it is alnust over!' Speedily after she 
 sunk in the arms of death. Keader, if on the dying bed, coidd you have 
 said so ? Are you prepared thus to meet dcafh ? 'When he comoth, w'ill 
 he find you in your sins, or as liaving fled for refuge to a Saviour's amis ? 
 " The ne.vt case was that of Joseph Stevens, a native of Ireland This 
 unfortunate stranger was so dreadfully scalded, and had inlialed so much 
 steam, that he could merely speak in a whisper. By the dressing he had 
 received, no part of his face was visible but his lips. I took a seat by lii.s 
 side, and tenderly expressed my wishes that (iod might command a bles.^- 
 ing uj)on the means used, with the hope of his recovery; and especially 
 grant him mercy and peace through a blessed Redeemer, whatever might 
 be the issue of his ])resnnt misl'ortiuie. Though the poor creature was 
 pcverely scalded in his throat, he thus expressed the greater agony of his 
 mind. ' O how distressing! (iod has turned his back upon me in thi.s 
 judgment. It is no more than I deserved, for I have been a great sinner.' 
 This was no time for me to probe the man's woiuided-mind deeper, by 
 asking him questions on his conduct, which, under other circumstances, 
 might have been necessary, for death was now evidently approaching. 
 1 therefore innnediately directed him to the Saviour, and explained to him 
 in what manner God can bestow mercy upon the penitent sinners, through 
 the .suflbrings and death of his Son Jesus Chri<t. I further encouraged 
 his desire, by assuring him, from the Scriptures, that ' Christ teas able to 
 save to the vtlerinost, all that come unto God throwjh him,' let their trans- 
 gressions or their miseries be never so great. He faintly replied, ' O that 
 Jesus Christ would look upon me, and save my poor soid.' Header, 
 pause ; think seriously ; pray that the Saviour may pardou you, befbra 
 llie grim visage of death appears."
 
 262 CROSSING THE BAR OF OLD AGE. 
 
 the feelings of my heart, and the acknowledgment of 
 that gratitude which is due to my heavenly Master, 
 on my arriving at the day of old age. The Lord has 
 dealt well iciik me through a long life, and not one 
 word which lie [)romised hath failed mc. This day, 
 to me, is somewhat like the jnariner's when crossing 
 over the bar which separates the ocean from the 
 harbour's mouth, and which he seldom passes over 
 without fear, and perhaps never without feeling; 
 only with this difference — the mariner may repeat- 
 edly cross the same bar, and go in and out of port in 
 the course of his life; but I am crossing that bar of 
 old age, which I shall never cross again ! No, here I 
 must confine myself a little while, floating, as in shoal 
 water, and wait until it shall please God to open to 
 me the port of eternity. 
 
 " David was about seventev.ni years of age when 
 Samuel anointed him successor to the throne of Saul ; 
 and in his old age, he piously acknowledges — ' O God, 
 thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto hate 
 I declared thy u-onderful works :^ therefore, as a ser- 
 vant of the Lord, he jjlead with his Master — ' Now 
 also, when I am old and. grey headed, O God, forsake 
 me not.' 
 
 " It pleased God to grant mc also some gracious 
 lessons of instruction in my early life, and to claim 
 me as his servant; else 1 am certain, that I never 
 should have chosen him for my Master, nor his 
 ministry for my service. IJut, alas ! sometimes, when 
 I am under a cloud of mental depression, 1 find it 
 dillicult to determine whether I am indeed a servant 
 of the Lord. ISevertheless, when I contemplate the 
 free gift of his grace, and that he has condescended 
 to employ me as the instrument of good to others, 
 and the numberless instances of his kindness through 
 the diversified scenes of my life, I would be ashamed 
 to say, however unworthy, that I am not his servant, 
 or that I am tired of his service. On the contrary,
 
 GRATEFUI, REAIIMSCFNCES. 261 
 
 it is n»y fervent desire and daily prayer, that my 
 blessed Lord would grant nic more faith, love, for- 
 titude, anil /'.eal, to do his will during the few days 
 that I may yet be continued a labourer in his vine- 
 yard. 1 will, therefore, try to follow the example 
 of David, and in this paper attempt to record the 
 memorial of mv gratitude for the goodness of tlie 
 Lord. 
 
 " I. The I>ord hath numbered my days, and lengtii- 
 ened out my life much beyond the period allotted to 
 any of my family, of whom I have any knowledge, 
 "^i'his preservation I cannot attribute to a firm consti- 
 tution, being in early life rather of a feeble habit, and 
 labouring under those infirmities vvhich, in their very 
 nature, were more likely to shorten than to e?:tend 
 the life of man. 
 
 " Not one of my associates in youth arc now living.* 
 In my early ministry, I enjoyed a large circle of af- 
 fectionate brethren in Europe; and since my resi,- 
 dence in America, my ministerial connections have 
 been far more extensive; but now, when I look 
 around, I can number only four of my old companions 
 who are yet with me in the land of the living. 
 
 " I have been assisted to educate a considerable 
 number of pious young men for the gospel ministry; 
 and while more than one half of them have been cut 
 down by death, in the very bloinn of their nseftdncss, 
 the Lord hath spared and continued mc in his service 
 to the present day. 
 
 '• Having resided in the city of New-York for about 
 forty years, 1 have witnessed many changes among 
 the clergy of all denominations ; and at this time I am 
 not only the oldest minister in the city in point of age, 
 but in respect to ollice. How great, therefore, is the 
 mercy and long-suftering of God to me! May I pos- 
 sess a heart filled with gratitude, in proportion to the 
 favours which 1 have received. 
 
 " iL In the diversified paths o{ my long life. I have
 
 264 E::.N"KFirs ok affuction acknowledgkd. 
 
 been led tlii-oiigh forests of afHiction, over hills and 
 mountains of ditiicuity, and sometimes in the pleasant 
 vales of })rospcrit)'. Often ha-ve I proposed the 
 (jiiestion, — Can tins be tlie v*"ay, so ftdl of thorns, so 
 many dangers on either hand, and so many dispen- 
 sations which appear to cross and contradict each 
 other? — -can such ways lead either to usefulness on 
 eaith, or bring me to a peaceful end? But, sooner 
 or later, I have been taught to know, that the Lord, 
 in all these seemingly adverse paths, was dealing well 
 with mo. No other ways could have answered the 
 purpose ; and however crooked they then appeared, 
 now I aiH convinced that they form one straight line 
 of wisdom and goodness. No v.onder that such a 
 sinful creature should need the rod of aiiiiction ; every 
 stroke has been justly merited; and although tlie 
 Lord has often ' shoiced mc hard things, and made mc 
 to drink of the icinc of astonishment,' yet, ' / fniow that 
 his Judgments are right, and that he i:i faithfulness and 
 mercy hath afflicted me.'' As Jacob made a coat of 
 diverse colours, exactly suited to the back of his son 
 Joseph, antl which afterwards proved emblematic of 
 his diversified afflictions, even so the variegated suf- 
 ferings of my life, have [)een fitted to my temper, dis- 
 position, and the many evils which for so many years 
 have lodged in my heart, and often prompted me to 
 depart from that blessed Lord whom I have desired 
 to love and serve. 
 
 '• HI. Tn my domestic life, and all the concerns 
 of my family, the Lord hath dealt well with me, 
 though 1 have here likewise passed through many 
 checquered scenes. Among these 1 tnay mention, 
 that by the fatal pestilence which ravaged our city in 
 the year J 708, the beloved wife of nsy bosom was 
 torn from my embrace; and, by the same fell disease, 
 I was so nearly reduced to the grave, that all hope of 
 my recovery was abandoned. Yet the Lord reniem- 
 Lrcred mc in my low estate, raised me up from the
 
 lilS CHILDREN FKAR THE LORD. 265 
 
 gates of death, ami assisted me to bring up my four 
 young children, two sons and two daugliturs. 
 
 " Altliougii in the beginning of this year, (1824) I 
 n-as deprived of my son WiUiam, by death, in the 
 West-Indies, when in the thirty-first year of liis age, 
 my other chiklren yet Hve, and are settled in circum- 
 stajjcss of comfort and respectability: and, what is 
 still more gratifying to me, they all fear the Lord my 
 Go<i. 
 
 " Like many others in domestic life, 1 have known 
 what it means to be in straits; my ways have some- 
 times been hedged up as with thorns, yet my table 
 luis never wanted bread, and I iiave witnessed many 
 wonderful interpositions of Providence for my supply, 
 from quarters least expected. Thus, the Lord hath 
 dealt well with me, fed me all my life long, and now, 
 in my old age, ' / have all things and abound :^ so that 
 I may say with David, when he went in and sat before 
 the Lord — ' Who am /, O Lord God9 And what i$ 
 my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto!' 
 
 " IV. 15y calling me to the ministry of the gospel 
 so early in life, and continuing me in his service for 
 so very many years, my Lord hath surely ' dealt well 
 tcifh 7/16',' his most unworthy servant. For a number 
 of years I have sustained the pastoral office over three 
 j^everal churches, and superintended an extensive 
 acadeniy. 
 
 " In the year 18L3 now scenes and duties de- 
 manded my attention, being culled, in the providence 
 of God, to take the ministerial charge of the various 
 humane and criminal institutions in the city. of New- 
 York, in which duty I continue to this day — let all 
 the honour and the glory be ascribed to his most 
 adored and ever-blessed name! 
 
 " V. I am nov/ seriously disposed to contrast my 
 divine Master's c{)nduct with my own, and to ex 
 hibit the bright jewels of his mercies to me, on the 
 durk ground of mv own fcinfulness, and extreme un- 
 
 23
 
 ^66 CHRIST THE ONLY UKFL'Gi: TOU TIIK SOUL. 
 
 worthiness. With David, in the 103.'I Psalm, I luay 
 certainly confess that, ' He hath not ihalt iviih vie 
 after my sins, nor rcwartlcd me according to mi/ inif/ui- 
 iief." Not only my temper, zeal, activity, devotion, 
 spirituality, all these have been wofully defective, but 
 too much of my time and talents have been misapplied 
 and misimproved. But, O my vile heart ! that is the 
 worst; seldom right witii God, and ever has it been 
 prone to neglect and wander far away from the Lord 
 and Master whom it was my duty and interest both to 
 love and serve. This is not all ; my heart has been, 
 and still is, too much like a nest of unclean birds ; an 
 host of evils lodge within, corrupt in their nature, and 
 violent in their operation, iVecjucntly rendering w.c a 
 burden to myself. 1 once thought that these hidden 
 evils of the lieart would certaitdy weaken with mv 
 declining years, and allow me more case in worship- 
 ping and serving the Lord ; but, however it may be 
 with others, in this I was niistaken. Like Paul's 
 ^ body of sin anddcath,^ my heart continues chained to 
 the new man; and perhaps the longer I exist, it will 
 become more offensive and disgusting, until I iinally 
 depart in death. My only resource for present 
 strength to mortify the deeds of the body, and my 
 liopo for final victory, is, through Jesus Clirist our 
 Lord. Here 1 rest; and were it not for this immu- 
 table Rock, 1 should inevitaldy sink in desjtair! 
 
 " In concluding this short testimony of the good- 
 ness of my Heavenly Father to me, v»'hat shall I soy 
 more, than that my soul doth pray for greater faith, 
 love, and patience. With ,Iob, I can say, ' All the 
 days of my appointed time nill I n-ail till my ch(ing>' 
 come :' therefore, with David I \\\\\ venture to ^dd: — 
 ' Into thine hand I commit my spirit, thou haul redamtd 
 mej O Ijord God of truth. ^ Amen.''
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 MH. STVNPORli's LABOUtlS IN THE OUIMIAN'-ASYLUM liLESSED 
 
 MIS P )!IT11AIT — DKATll OK THK UCV. JOHN WILLIAMS, 
 
 IlEV. D.I. FUiniAN, AND THF, REV. DR. UALDWIN — HIS KX- 
 ElinO-SS LCAD TO THE FORMATION 01" THE HOUSK OF 
 nCFUGR — rOMPOSliS A NKW TRACT, ENTITLED THE PRI- 
 SONER'S COMPANION — Mli.MORIAL. 
 
 Amo.ngst the orphans at the Asylum, Mr. Stanford 
 spent some of his happiest hours. They were the 
 frequent subjects of his impassioned conversation. As 
 a fatlier, he felt for their helpless condition ; and as 
 a minister of Christ, he laboured and prayed for their 
 spiritual advanta<^e. When they were sick, his sym- 
 pathies were excited ; and when any of them sunk 
 into the arms of death, he wept over them. But not 
 unfrequently was he permitted to enjoy the consolation 
 of knowing, that his labours of love had not been in 
 vain in the Lord. 
 
 On the 22d of March, 1825, he remarks : — "1 rode 
 to the Orphan-Asylum, and delivered a discourse at 
 the funeral of Joseph Foster, aged eleven years. It 
 is believed he died happy in the Lord." 
 
 "New- York, March 3d, 1825. 
 
 '* REV. AND DEAR SIR, 
 
 " It is with unfeigned pleasure I inform you, that 
 the "Common Council, at their last meeting, passed a 
 resolution, requesting you to sit for your portrait, and 
 authorized the committee on pid)lic offices, to attend 
 to the execution of it. Li b(;luilf of that committee, 
 I respectfully solicit your consent to their wishes. I 
 need not say, and I am quite sure I need not tell
 
 268 MR. STANFORD'jJ PORTRAIT. 
 
 you, how gratifying your acquiesencc will be to every 
 member of the Common Council, but it cannot bo 
 more so to any than to 
 
 " Your obedient friend and servant, 
 
 " E. W. K'iWG. " 
 " p. S. In case of your acceptance, will you do 
 me the favour to name the artist whom you prefer to 
 execute the work." 
 
 The portrait of Mr. Stanford was executed by tiint 
 finished artist. Samuel F. B. Morse, Esq. and is de- 
 posited in the dining-room at Bellevue. As a likeness, 
 and in style of execution, it is not surpassed by any 
 thing of the kind in our city. 
 
 May 24th, Mr. Stanford delivered a discourse on 
 tlie death of the Rev. John Williams, the beloved and 
 universally lamented pastor of the church in Oliver- 
 street. A brief memoir of tliis venerable servant of 
 Christ, may be found in the Appendix to tliis volume. 
 
 Saturday, June 4th. Mr. S. say? — " Yesterday, 
 between five and six o'clock in the {ifternoon, I wns 
 visited with a shock, bordering on apoplexy. It lasteii 
 about twenty minutes, and aftected my whole framo 
 in an indescribable manner. The physicians attend- 
 ing could give nic no aid. Thanks be to the LortI, 
 my mind was cahn, and ho eiiiibled mc to exclaim, 
 ' Say unto my soul, I am thy sahaiicn.'' O hew neces- 
 sary to be ready for the last change !" 
 
 Tuesday, September 6th. Mr. S. says — " This 
 day heard of the dt>ath of my intimate and excellent 
 friends, the Rev. Dr. Furnian, of Charleston, South- 
 Carolina ; and the J{ev. Dr. Baldwin, of Boston, both 
 about my own age. O liOrd, by thy grace, preparo 
 me to follow them." 
 
 Brief memoirs of those eminent servants of Christ, 
 written by tlu; Rev. Dr. Wayland, |ir( sidrnt of Brown 
 University, and the Rev. Dr. Brant ly, of Philadelpiiia, 
 will be found in the Appendix to this volume.
 
 Tin: MURDERER OF CAPT. WEST. 26D 
 
 Monday, October 3d. In the afternoon Mr. S. by 
 invitation, ro.lc to Fourth-street, and laid the corner- 
 stone of the Third Congregational Church, and de- 
 livered an address. 
 
 TucSviay, 4tii. In the morning- lie went to the 
 Bridewell, to sec James Reynolds, about twenty-two 
 years of age, who was condemned to death for the 
 murder of Caj)tain West. Contrary to his expecta- 
 tions, he found the prisoner very attentive to the 
 concerns of his soul. 
 
 " Thursday, October 20th. After giving a dis- 
 course in the Uridewell, I visited the condemned, in 
 company with the Ilev. Mr. Sommers." 
 
 " This day," says Mr. Stanford, " I entered into my 
 seventy-second year — a mercy beyond what I could 
 have anticipated. How great has been the patience 
 and forbearance of the Lord,' notwitlistanding my 
 great unworthiness and numberless sins! Except 
 two weeks in June, when I had a fit, approaching to 
 a])oplexy, I have been indulged with a great degree 
 of strength, and assisted to perform all my public 
 services in preaching, and in visiting the various 
 institutions committed to my care. Nor has my pen 
 been altogether unemployed. The Lord has graci- 
 ously assisted me during the year to compose several 
 ])ieces on theology, and to write much with reference 
 to the public institutions; all of which, I devoutly ac- 
 knowledge, were performed by the special aids of my 
 Lord, without which my public usefulness must have 
 ceased long ere this ; therefore, I this day lay the 
 whole of my year's services, with any benefits which 
 may have attended them, at the feet of my Lord and 
 Saviour, ascribing all the honour and praise to his 
 adorable name. 
 
 " In the estimate of human life, made by Moses 
 
 in the 90th Psalm, he assures us, that beyond the 
 
 years of seventy, the years of man are but ' labour 
 
 and €orroiv.' This is true ; for so I already begin 
 
 23*
 
 270 THE GRAND CANAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 to find it; but then, I presume this relates, to the 
 bodily pains and sorrows of old age. Still there 
 are some alleviations to these infirmities. ' As the 
 outer man perislicth, so the soul, the inner man, inay he 
 renewed, day hy day ;'' and by this spiritual and happy 
 renewal, the pains and sorrows of age may bo coun- 
 terbalanced, and be more easily endured, and the one 
 be made suliscrvient to the other. Besides, there arc 
 duties which many aged persons are assisted to per- 
 form, which may not be called labour, and instead of 
 engendering sorrow, they afford the most desirable 
 pleasures ! The service of the Lord is perfect free- 
 dom : ' In heeping his commandments there is gnat 
 reward.'' It cannot be, therefore, but that these must 
 prove a rc^ iving cordial to counteract the sorrows 
 of a poor old man. In no part of the last year, have 
 I found the work of the Ijord too laborious; my sor- 
 rows have arisen from pain in the body, and more si> 
 from the evils of my heart, and my deficiency in holy 
 duties. These have been, and still are, my heaviest 
 sorrows. And therefore, 1 do this day humbly be.«cocb 
 my good Lord, by his grace, to revive his work in uie, 
 and by mc, if he shall })lease to add to the number of 
 my days, and continue mc longer in his service. 
 Thus, ' All the days of my appointed time will I ifiiit 
 all my change come' — ' looking for the mercy of the 
 Lord Jesus, unto eternal life.^ Amen." 
 
 Friday, the 4th of November, uas the day api)uiiited 
 for (" the Grand Canal Celebration,") uniting the 
 waters of Lake Eric with those of the ocean. By 
 special invitation, Mr. Stanford accompanied the Cor- 
 poration of the city on the occasion. The orator of 
 the day was his intimate friend and neighbour, "the 
 late Samuel L. Mitcliill, M. D., LL. I). 
 
 Monday, 2Lst. Mr. S. says — " Quite unwell all 
 day, yet in the evening was under the necessity of 
 going to the City-Hotel, for the purpose of delivering 
 aa address at the anniversary of the Society for the
 
 ORIGIN OF THE N. V. HOUSK OF RKFUGE. 271 
 
 Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents." That elo- 
 quent and spirit-stirring address will not soon be for- 
 gotten by those who heard it. 
 
 It is a circumstance peculiarly gratifying to the 
 friends of Mr. Stanford, that in addition to his useful- 
 ness in the ordinary routine of ministerial duties, he 
 enjoyed the hig!i gratification of having been instru- 
 mental in originaiing the " House cf llcfugc" in the 
 city of iNew-Yorli. This being the first of the kind in 
 the United States, in which the experiment of juvcniio 
 reformation has been fairly aitemjited : and which, 
 after it had been in operation two years. Governor 
 Clinton declared, in his annual message of IS2G, to 
 i>e, " perhaps the best penitentiary institution which 
 hud ever beendcvi.^ed bv the wit, and established by 
 the beneficence of man." It is due alike to truth, 
 and to the memory of Mr. Stanford, to insert in this 
 place, tlie documents wliich relate to this interesting 
 subject. 
 
 Extract from the New- York Gazette. 
 " Common Council. — A letter was read from the 
 Rev. Mr. S'anford, stating, tliat a number of youth, 
 convicted of petty tliefts, had been sent by the Police 
 to the Penitentiary, in the hope? of mending their 
 morals, wiiich he believed had a contrary effect. lie 
 stated, that an interesting orplian boy of fourteen 
 years, under his charge, had been found in the mar- 
 ket, and sent to the Penitentiary — that he wrote an 
 excellent hand, and was otherwise competent for 
 l)usincss — that he had procured a p.lace for him in a 
 merchant's counting-imusc, but the gemlenian, on 
 hearing that the l:cl had been in the Penitentiary, 
 ileclined taking him — that nobody seemed inclined to 
 take boys from that establishment. 3Ir. S. recom- 
 mends, both on the score of economy to the piddic, 
 and the belter correction of the morals of childrc!! of 
 this description, that an asylum bo founded, soleJy
 
 272 ADDRESS TO THE CORPORATION. 
 
 appropriated to their use. This letter was referred to 
 the Mayor and Commissioners of the Ahns-House."' 
 
 The following- is an extract from the document 
 referred to, and (written more than twelve years 
 before the plan was carried into operation,) will 
 settle the question as to the origin of the New-York 
 House of Refuge. 
 
 " To the Mayor and Corporal ion of the City of New- 
 York. 
 
 " GENTLE.MKX, 
 
 " That the respectability and happiness of any 
 country materially depends on the principles and 
 habits of the rising generation, is a self-evident pro- 
 position. 
 
 " The benevolent exertions of diflerent societies 
 to establish schools in our city for orphans, and for 
 the children of the indigent, demand our thanks to 
 that God who is ' Tlic Guide of our yoidh,'' and also 
 to the generous public. Especially for the establish- 
 ment of the Orphan-House, and the New-York City 
 Charity School ; to the accomplishment of which, citi- 
 zens of all denominations have liberally contributed. 
 
 " I now beg leave to direct your attention to a 
 • ubject of equal, if not of superior importance, and 
 which devolves more immediately upon your lionour- 
 ablc body, as the guardians of the city. It is, to 
 make an attempt to rescue from indolence, vice, and 
 danger, the hundreds of vagrant children and youtli 
 who, day and night, infest our streets; many ofwiioin 
 have, in the course of divine Providence, been cast 
 upon the world as friendless orphans. It is no un- 
 common occurrence, to see some of these unfortunate 
 children brought before the Police, who are compelled 
 to inflict upon them the punishment of violated law, 
 although it is frequently evident that they were be- 
 trayed into the commission of those very crimes, bj 
 circumstances not subject to their control.
 
 PLAN OF THK PROPOSED IN-tTITtJlIOK. 273 
 
 " Some inonllis aijo tlio cTand jury rcjircseutod 
 (his case, iis wcil as otiK-is of liigli irnpc.rtance, to the 
 jiulicial nuthorities of tliH city. At tl;o same time, 
 adverted to the unhappy condition of a naiuber of 
 children from eleven to tburtecn years of age, con- 
 fined in t!ie State-Prison. From my personal know- 
 ledg'o of this fact, and deeply impressed hy frequently 
 heliolding their situation, 1 attempted to second tho 
 recommendation of that jury in a paragraph, intro- 
 duced into several newspapers, under the signature 
 of ' Amiens.' 
 
 " [n a recent conversation with one of your worthy 
 aldermen, the subject was revived, and it v.-as deemed 
 a duty incumbent on me to form something like a 
 plan for the rescue of these unfortunate children from 
 the temptations to which they are exposed, and that 
 inevitable ruin to which, without your assistance, 
 they appear to be doomed. Your well known dispo- 
 sition to promote the civil and moral interests of this 
 large city, is my apology for presenting lo your con- 
 sideration, a subject in which, as individuals atid as a 
 community, we are all most deeply interested. Allow 
 me, gentlemen, to invite your attention to that class 
 of youth particularly referred to, the maimer in which 
 their case may be relieved, and some of the probable 
 ways and means by which this desirable end nuty be 
 attained. 
 
 " The objects. These are, not the vagrant chil- 
 dren who have jiarents existing in the city, although 
 such parents may bo more abandoned than their off- 
 spring. To assume the charge of such, without tho 
 consent of their jiarents, would be a violation of the 
 law of our country, as well as of the law of nature, 
 which give, to parents alone the government of their 
 children, unless such be found violators of known civil 
 law. Nor do I, at present, solicit your iuterferenco 
 on the behalf of the unhappy youth confined in the 
 State-Prison; for these arc more immcdiatclv under
 
 '■274 PLAN OF THE PROPOSED INSTITUTION. 
 
 the aiitlioriti}' of the Legiskiturc. My particular de- 
 sire is, to entreat your immediule aUcniion to those 
 vagrants who are toiind infesting our streets, docks, 
 and markets, withoLit any visible means of support, 
 and who can give no correct account of themselves 
 or their parents, and whose situation naturally leads 
 to indolence and crime. It is no uncommon circum- 
 stance, to find children and youth of the above de- 
 scription in houses of ill-fame, where their vicious 
 liabits become confirmed, and eventually bring them 
 to public shame and punishment. The great increase 
 of this class has become a subject of deep anxiety 
 and reasonable alarm to the minds of the virtuous 
 inhabitants. To this it miglit be added, that there 
 are many idle and vagrant children whose parents 
 reside beyond the boundaries of the city and county, 
 who abandon their children to vicious practices, for 
 the purpose of aiding in their own support. These 
 also require your special attention, until such parents 
 shall present their claim, and be compelled to take 
 their children under their own protection. 
 
 "Rklief. I would respectfully recommend that a 
 house be procured, as an asylum for vagrant youth, 
 fhe convcniencies and cxknL of \vhich nuiy be easily 
 conceived. Here five important points at least will 
 claim your attention. 
 
 " 1. Their proper classification, so as to preserve 
 them from the infiuence of depraved associates. 
 
 " 2. The cultivation of habits of industry, and in- 
 struction in such branches of the mechanic arts, a? 
 may be necessary to secure their future support and 
 comfort. 
 
 " 3. That a suitable proportion of their time be 
 appro|iriat(!d to the ac(|uiremcnt of a good education. 
 And that those who are capable of sea-service, should 
 be taught the rudiments of navigation. This would 
 cidiance the value of the institution, and promote the 
 benefit of our commerce.
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. '^4 
 
 " 4. That suitable measures should he adopted for 
 I heir moral and religious instruction, without which, 
 their entire reformation cannot be ejected. 
 
 " 5. That when any of the youth shall give satis- 
 factory evidence of relbrination, suitable rccommen- 
 flations should be given to those who may require 
 their service, and places be provided for them by the 
 ^Miardians, or board of directors of the institution. 
 
 " It is necessary to add, that this institution should 
 by a law of the Legislature, be placed under the 
 government of the Corporation of the city of JNew- 
 York. The duties of which will be rendered com- 
 paratively easy, by dividing the members into distinct 
 committees for the purpose of systematic and periodi- 
 cal visitation. Or, that the Cor{)Dration might be 
 empowered to appoint a suitable ntimber of intelligent 
 ami benevolent inspectors for this purpose. 
 
 "'Ways and .^ieans. 1. As this object cannot 
 well be accomplished without the concurrence of the 
 liegislature, is it not more than probable, that they 
 would pass an act for the establishment of such an 
 institution, and be so far im'pres-sed vvith a conviction 
 of its utility, as to make an ajjpropriation of money to 
 aid in its commencement. 
 
 •' 2. The Corporation, it is |)resumed, have power 
 to ap])ropriatG a competent number of lots in some 
 suitable [ilacc for the erection of a building; or, as an 
 incipient measure, to [)rovide a pdace as a temporary 
 
 " 3. If a very small tax, fur the purpose, were 
 levied for one year only, it would probably meet vvitii 
 the entire concurrence and approbation of all the in- 
 habitants of iNeu-York. 
 
 '• 4. A subscription op(.n(;d among the opulent 
 inhabitants of this prosj)eroi!s metropolis, v.ould no 
 doubt be responded to with their accustomed benevo- 
 lence and liberality. 
 
 " 5. When such an institution was once formed, it
 
 576 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 
 
 would soon be found mateiially to aid in its own sujv 
 port. In the State-Prison, the experiment has proved, 
 limt young j)ersons will more readily learn a trade, 
 juid, when accustomed to the use of tools, turn out 
 more work than those farther advanced in life. 
 
 " Tl'.e above siiggestions are respectfully submitted 
 to the modifications of your superior wisdom. Should 
 you so far approve of the object, and of the above 
 plan, as to appoint a committee for further invesliira- 
 lion, and jud^^e that in any way my feeble efforts may 
 farther contiibute to its maturity, they will be at your 
 ^ervicc. 
 
 " Allow me, in conclusion, gentlemen, to remark, 
 that the above recommendation is not intended merely 
 as ati act of benevolence, but for the prevention of 
 crime, and the preservation of our civil and moral 
 interests. It cannot but be obvious, that if these 
 vas^rant youth are allowed to increase in depravity 
 and in numbers, their pestiferous influence will soon 
 become like the ia{)id cui'rent of a river, which will 
 deepen its channel, and overflow its bonks, until it 
 has on every side spread the desolations of a moral 
 contagion. As a natural consequence, our Pcnitcn- 
 tiaiics must be multiplied, and thus an additional 
 burden devolve iij)on the community ; for it is indis- 
 putable, that eveiy corrujit generation will produce 
 its own likeness. 
 
 '• As men of inlelligence, I cannot doid)t that yon 
 have, regarded \\i[\\ approbiition the efforts of the 
 different religious societies in sending gospel mission- 
 aries to our interior and frontier s(;ttUinents, for ll:c 
 purpose of promoting the nioral imj)rovenient of the 
 iidiabilants of tLese ie.;ioi;s. iJiit the subject to 
 whicii I iiave now directed }onr atl( iilion, is an at- 
 tempt to puiiiy the fountain, and to prevent tli« 
 gtreanis of corruption from sprejiding throughout tbu 
 iiMigth and breadth of our haj)py country. 
 
 " In additioii to the above, permit r.ie to sny^ that-
 
 I.OCAMON OF THE HOUSE OF REFUGE. 277 
 
 there arc many now within tlie gloomy walls of the 
 J?«tate-Prison who were received from the city, and 
 who deeply lament, that, in early life, they were cast 
 »i})on the public, without parents or friends to direct 
 their pursuits, or to prevent them from those allure- 
 ments of evil associates, by which they were decoyed 
 into the paths of crime and consequent ruin. 
 '* I am, 
 
 *' Gentlemen, 
 
 *' With great respect, 
 " Your's in the gospel, 
 
 " JOHN STANFORD, 
 " February ISlh, 1812." 
 
 A letter, addressed to the Honourable the Mayor of 
 New- York, and other papers relating to the same 
 subject, are in our possession ; but it is deemed unne- 
 cessary here to insert them. 
 
 In a srd)sequent " Annual Report to the Ilonoura- 
 l)le the Mayor and Corporation of the City of New- 
 York," Mr. Stanford again invited their attention to 
 this interesting subject, and added several important 
 J'uggestions on the desirableness of establishing, in the 
 same institution, a Marine School, for the education of 
 such boys as might prefer a seafaring life. In the 
 same report he directed the attention of the Common 
 Council to the establishment then occupied as the 
 Ihiitcd States Arsenal, in the twelfth ward, which he 
 had examined with a particular view to its adaptation 
 as a House of llcfuge, and which was accordingly 
 purchased, and is now occupied for that purpose, as 
 appears from the following extract from the Com- 
 iriercial Advertiser. 
 
 "On Sunday morning last, agreeably to previous 
 arrangement, the House of Refuge for Juvenile De- 
 iiiiqueuts, at the confluence of the Bloomingdale and 
 Harli^em roads, was opened, bv the performance of 
 
 24
 
 273 DEDICATION SERMON. 
 
 religious exercises suited to the occasion. The nsan- 
 agers of tlie institution, and a large company, com- 
 posed of its patrons and friends, many members of 
 the Legishiture, and of the Common Council, and 
 several benevolent ladies, who have contributed their 
 services and personal attentions to the girls' depart- 
 ment, were present. The Rev. Mr. Stanfoid, who, with 
 a zeal that is apostolical, and beyond his years, goes 
 about doing good, in our Alms-Iiouse, and Debtors' 
 and other prisons and penitentiaries, performed di- 
 vine service ; and in his prayers and exhortations, 
 was extremely affecting and impressive. His text 
 was Exodus, ii. 9 — ' Take iliis child away and nurse 
 it for me, and I icill paij Ihee thy irages.' The re- 
 markable incident in the history of Moses, to which 
 this refers, with its attendant circumstances, gave to 
 the speaker the opportunity of expounding the ways 
 of Cod to man, in his providential dealings, with 
 great and striking effect, and of enforcing, at the same 
 time, the duties of benevolence and charity to the 
 poor and destitute. And the venerable ])reacher did 
 not forget ' the u-ages'' promised. What those were, 
 those who are accustomed to do good will readily un- 
 derstand. 
 
 " The objects present, consisting of a number of 
 boys and girls, of tender years — some in a state of 
 childhood, others just entering the period of youth, 
 rescued from the paths of ignorance and criminality, 
 into which they had been led by the shamcfid neglect 
 or tl»e pernicious effects ol" evil example, on the part, 
 in some instances, of their parents, and j)laced by (he 
 redeeming spirit of heaven-born charity, in a course 
 of reformation, could not fail to awaken, under the 
 powerful influence of the speaker, the varying senti- 
 ments of commiseration and sorrow, for their I'ormer 
 degradation and wretchedness, and of gratitude and 
 ioy for their happy deliverance. 
 
 " The children appear in perfect heulih, and exhi-
 
 PRESENT NUMBER OF INMATES'. 279 
 
 bit tho giciitest decency in their dress and deportment. 
 Ask any of thcni how they like the House of Refuge, 
 and they will answer, that they arc contcntetl and 
 pleased; and tliey appear duly to realize the advant- 
 ages that arc placed within their reach, of becoming 
 useful, industrious and respectable; while without the 
 benefits of tins House, emphatically ' of Refuge,' it 
 is manifest, they would have been left to grow up as 
 candidates only for future shame and ignominy. 
 
 " There are fourteen girls and forty-seven boys. 
 The number, it may be expected, will now greatly 
 increase, as the nt.nv building will accommodate a 
 large number of additional inmates. 
 
 " As a proof of the capacity of the boys for active 
 and useful exertion, it ought to be stated, that the 
 materials of the new brick building, (just opened) 
 were principally carried up by them. They are also 
 employed in other useful objects and branches of 
 labour. 
 
 " The girls are instructed in the business and em- 
 ployments suited to them — and the whole are, at fixed 
 and stated periods, instructed in useful learning, and 
 in religious duty. 
 
 " A more honourable testimonial to the generosity 
 and public spirit of our inhabitants cannot, it is believ- 
 ed, be exhibited ; nor one that bids fairer to be more 
 usefid, than this. Our penitentiaries and state-prisons 
 are founded in the utmost clemency and mildness of 
 Christianity itself; but to the young, who are occa- 
 sionally placed within their walls, they are but schools 
 and nurseries for profligacy and criminality. If evil 
 communications corru|)t good manners, what must be 
 the necessary effect upon manners already depraved? 
 With regard to young offenders, the answer is too 
 often and too sadly realized. And in this establish- 
 ment is found the simple and the true remedy — se- 
 paration from older and more hardened offenders — 
 the substitution of good example, instruction, and
 
 280 THE prisoner's COMPA.MOJf. 
 
 useful employment, in place of evil example, ignorance, 
 and idleness — and the exertion of the power of society 
 in the reformation, that it may be the more safely put 
 forth for the forgiveness of its unfortunate children." 
 
 Letter to the Rev. Dr. Allison. 
 
 ''Neiv-Yorh; May 9l/i, 1826. 
 
 " MY DEAR BROTHER I.\ CHKIST, 
 
 " We have loved each other in Christ Jesus for 
 very many years. We shall not meet again in this 
 vale of sorrow, for the time of our departure is at 
 hand. That blessed Saviour who hath so long con- 
 ducted us in duty, and preserved us in suffering, hath 
 already, by his death and resurrection, jjrepared for 
 us a bed of death without a thorn. Let us still look. 
 to his gracious hand to lay us gently down upon that 
 cold bed, in full and certain hope of the resurrection 
 at the last day, that we then shall be transformed 
 into his glorious likeness, see him as he is, know 
 each other better than we are now known, and join 
 the redeemed in trium|)hant praises to God and the 
 Lamb for ever and ever. With such hopes I will 
 not bid you farewell, for we sliall meet in heaven, to 
 part no more, 
 
 "JOHN STANFORD." 
 
 Thursday, January 17th, 1826, Mr. Stanford says: 
 — " Visited all the wards in the City-lIosj)ita!, and then 
 gave a discourse with some little satisfaction. After 
 returning home, I finished the Annual Census, and 
 sent it to the printer. 
 
 " Thursday, October 5th. Finished the ' Prison- 
 er's Companion,' and delivered the copy to the com- 
 mittee of the American Tract Society." This inter- 
 esting publication was imnujdiatcly stereotyped, and 
 is continued in the series of the Society's tracts. 
 
 " Friday, October 20th. A violent storm — no
 
 MFUIT DISCLAIMED. 281 
 
 carriage came for me, an"! I therefore employed my- 
 self ill writing." 
 
 " Dining this day I have indulged many serious 
 reflections on the path of my long life. I know not 
 that at anyone time my spirit was laid more prostrate 
 before the Lord, or my gratitude more elevated for 
 mercies and preservation, than during the whole of 
 this day. Reviewing my ministerial life, 1 was deeply 
 impressed with a conviction, that the servant of the 
 Lord should always possess a habitual sense of the 
 value and the danger of the souls of sinners. He 
 ought to realize the trust committed to him in the 
 ministry of the gosj)el, and possess great love and zeal 
 for the glory of Gntl. Thoughts like these pervaded 
 my mind ; so that when I looked back on my more 
 than fifty years services, I could not but deoi)ly lament 
 that 1 have possessed so small a share of these minis^ 
 terial virtues. 1 am now beginning seriously to dis- 
 cover my defects, when I have but little time left for 
 improvement. I sliall soon finish my days and my 
 ministry together. These considerations humble my 
 soul in the dust. I am deeply convinced that I can 
 have no pretensions to merit. All the good I ever 
 had or did, must be ascribed to the mercy and grace 
 of God. If any sinner, by my means, has been brought 
 to the knowledge of the truth, or any afflicted saint 
 has been refreshed, it was the Lord that put the life- 
 giving, consoling word into my lips, and clothed it 
 with his power to produce the hapjiy effect ; there- 
 fore, the praise is not mine, but the Lord's. And, if 
 1 have written any thing which has been found in- 
 structive and useful to individuals, or to the public, I 
 am certain the Lord jnit the subject into my heart, 
 and he guided my hand ; so that, in the review of my 
 many publications, I have no regret, nor wish a single 
 page recalled. 
 
 " Advancing towards my latter end, and feeling a 
 rapid increase of mental and bodily infirmities, I wish 
 
 24*
 
 282 THE FOUNDATION RE-EXAMINED. 
 
 to look more intently into the foundation of my hope, 
 that I may not be deceived nor ashamed. 1 can say 
 with sincerity, that the hope I possess does not spring 
 from either my religious or ministerial profession, nor 
 from any series of religious opinions; but upon the 
 sovereign mercy of God, through the person, atone- 
 ment, righteousness, and grace of his Son, our l^ord 
 and Saviour, Jesus Christ. On this I rest : without 
 it I must sink and perish ! Long as 1 have Duide a 
 profession of faith in Christ, I this day find that I still 
 want more of the grace of faith — that holy principle 
 which will enable me to take faster hold, and rest 
 more feelingly upon Christ, the rock, the on!) sure 
 foundation. The conflicts of my heart with sin, un- 
 belief, and temj)tation, are frequently severe. The 
 body of sin is weighty, defiling, and loathsome ; I 
 can therefore look for no other refuge, sup|)ort, and 
 victory, but in the God of all grace, through Jesus 
 Christ my Lord. Like 3Ioses, ^ I know not the day of 
 my dttith.;^ neither am 1 anxious to know it, though 
 it cannot be far distant. O that the Lord may eiuible 
 me to trim my lamp, gird up the loins of my njind, 
 and cultivate those feelings which shall accord with a 
 devout waiting for the coming of my Lord, so that 
 when he knocks, I may open to him immediately. 
 May the Holy Spirit, who is the glorifier of Christ, 
 and the source of all grace, grant me his influence to 
 help my infirmities, increase my faith, and sanctity my 
 affections, and it will be the most welconie and vahi- 
 able gift i can desire, and receive, oa this my birth- 
 day!" 
 
 On the 3Isl of l)ecem!)er, 1626, ho writes: — r 
 *' Thus closes another year. O how great has been 
 the patience of the l^ord with me, a |)oor sinful and 
 utii)rofital)le creature. What in future he designs for 
 me, whether in life or death, I leave to his soverciij'u 
 will and pleasure."
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 FUNEIIAL OP THE RKV. C. li. DUFFIE Mli.MOUlAL MR. STAN- 
 
 VORO A Vt«:r.-1'RI',SII)ENT OF THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY 
 
 MECHANICS SCHOOL ADORESS AT LAYING THE COUNIR 
 
 STONE OF THE PEMTEXTIAKY ON BLACKWELI.'s ISLAND 
 
 RECEIVES THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF DIVIMTV EXER- 
 CISES AT THE CLOSE OF 1830. 
 
 January 1st, 1327, Mr. Stanford says: — "Many 
 wero the luiUiUIe and i;rat(!ful tljoiiijrlits with \vhi<!h 
 J commenced this year. My desires to live nearer 
 the Lord increase daily ; to have a lii mer ftiilh in the 
 Redeemer, and to honotir his name in whatever he 
 may allot me to do or suffer ; and to wait the time 
 when he shall remove me from all below, in hope of 
 end less peace." 
 
 " January 18th. Attended the Orphan-Asylum, 
 to perform the funeral service over the remains of 
 Elizabeth Jessiip, aged eleven years, who died happj 
 in the Lord." 
 
 " January 3 1st. Although tliis month I laboured 
 under much bodily infirmity, yet was assisted to finish 
 iny annual reports oC the different institutions, and to 
 }»erform my usual duties in preaching and visiting. 
 Many have been the conflicts of my own heart; and 
 I humbly pray the Lord to pardon and cleanse me 
 from my sins, and cause his holy tear so to operate 
 upon my heart, that 1 may not depart from him, but 
 love and serve him to the end of my di-.ys." 
 
 The following extract of a letter from Samuel L. 
 Milchill, M. D. LL. D. furnishes another evidence of 
 the favourable liglit in which the labours of Mr. Stau-.
 
 284 DEATH OF THE REV. C. R. DUFFIE. 
 
 ford were regarded by the most enlightened members 
 of this community. 
 
 ''New-York, April 11th, 1827. 
 
 " MY DEAR Slli, 
 
 " Be pleased to accept my thanks for your compo- 
 sition, entitled ' T/te Frisouer^s Companion,'' published 
 lately by the American Tract Society. The topics 
 of the nine sections seem admirably adapted to an- 
 swer the purpose for which they were intended, and 
 show the author's profound acquaintance, from long 
 observation, with the persons whom he addresses. 
 
 " 1 congratulate you on your great industry ; and 
 on your ability to finish so many and such excellent 
 writings as you have done. 
 
 " May you long live to perform, among other func- 
 tions, those exemplary ones that have distinguishes! 
 you as ' Public Chaj)lain to the Humane and Criminal 
 Institutions in the City of New-York.' 
 
 " Your book on the zoology of the Bible, has edified 
 me much. I iiope it has had an extensive circulation. 
 The information it contains will materially elucidate 
 the sacred text. 
 
 " 1 avail myself of the present opportunity, to as- 
 sure you of my good \vill and kind feeling. 
 
 " SAMUEL L. MITCHILL. • 
 
 August 21st, Mr. S. says : — " Visited ten wards in 
 the City-Hospital, and gave a discourse. In the after^ 
 noon, attended the funeral of the Rev. C. 11. Duffie, 
 who, in the midst of usefuhuss, and at an early age, 
 died, after a few days illness; and yet I am preserved 
 to very old age." 
 
 " Lord's day, Septend)er 2d. Morning, ventured 
 to the City-Hospital with only a scrap of notes, but 
 the Lord was pleased to multiply it. Rode to the 
 State-Prison, [)reached twice in the chapel, and once 
 in the guard-house. O the goodness of the Lord iu 
 bearing with me, and helping me this day.''
 
 LF.TrnH FROM n.iN. CHAULES CARKDI.L. 2^0 
 
 " Thursday, lOtli. My day to visit tin; Mariric- 
 Ilospit.il ; tluM-e is a consi<I(M-al)lc increase of patients. 
 A'isited all the wanis, ami {"olukI some coiivalcsrcnt' 
 sailors in tlic hail, to whom I gave a discourse on !St. 
 i'aiirs shipwreck." 
 
 The fuUo'Aiiig is an extract from a h'ltcr written 
 l»y the patriotic, and enlightened Churlcij Carroll, of 
 CurroUton, to 3Ir. Stanford. 
 
 «' Doi/a-hora^cn, OdolcrQlh. 1F2T. 
 
 CO' 
 
 " REVEREND SIR, 
 
 " I was yesterday favoured with your frieiuliy hitter 
 of the 10th past, and the discourses on the opening of 
 the House of Refuge for the reformation of Juvenile 
 Delinquents, and on the death of Jefterson and Adams ; 
 the former I have not yet read; with the latter I am 
 highly j)leased, and I sincerely thani; you for your 
 pious wishes for my liaj)piness in the life to come. 
 
 '• Your sentiments on religious hberty coincide 
 entirely with mine. To obtain religious as well as 
 civil liberty, I entered zealously into the revolution; 
 and observing the Christian rchgion divided into 
 many sects, 1 founded the hope that no one v/ould be 
 so predominant as to become the religion of the state. 
 That hope was thus early entertained, because all of 
 them joined in the same cause, with a few exceptions 
 of individuals. God grant that this religious liberty 
 may be preserved in these States to the end of time, 
 and that all believing in the religion of Christ, may 
 practice the leading principle of his religion, Charity, 
 the basis of every virtue. 
 
 " I remain, with great respect, 
 " Reverend Sir, 
 
 " Your most humble servant, 
 
 " CII. CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON, 
 " In the 91st year of his age."
 
 286 GRATITUDE FOR DIVINE FAVOURS. 
 
 " Birth-day ^Memorial, on entering into my 74tij 
 year, October 20t[i, ]S27. 
 
 "•Another year has fled! One more birth-day 
 memorial of the patience and goodness of the Lord 
 my God! Long have 1 thought, from the number of 
 my days, and the increase of my infirmities, that I 
 was near my journey's end, still, how greatly is it 
 protracted. This is the Lord's doing; and while it 
 is marvellous in my eyes, it affords me a further op- 
 portunity to work in liis vineyards, and more abundant 
 cause for gratitude and praise I Since my last birth- 
 day, I have undergone a variety of conflicts in my own 
 breast, on the subject of my ministry. True, I have 
 this year preached as frecpiently, if not more so, than 
 T did fifteen years ago ; and yet 1 have observed a de- 
 ficiency in my ministerial animation, as well as in my 
 personal concerns, walking humbly and sensibly with 
 the Lord my Saviour. If the niultiplicity of duties 
 performed, coidd constitute me a lively Christian, 
 perhaps some bystanders might jjronouncc me one of 
 the first class; but the exercises of my own heart, 
 during the last year, compel me to take the lowest 
 seat. I must still hang upon the same free and un- 
 merited mercy, which 1 preach to the greatest sinners 
 in my congregations. 
 
 " No particidar changes or events have taken place 
 with me this year; the whole having been emp'oyed 
 in my usual course of public and private services. 
 
 " When I look on my table, I find many pieces of 
 composition, which rcfjuire a finishing touch ; but in 
 this case I may say, ' The spirit is icHfiug', hut fhc flesh 
 is wcdk.^ My senses grow dull, and my hand moves 
 slower every year, so that Solomon's admonition 
 comes forcibly to mind : — '■U' hat soever thy hand findeth 
 to do, do it ivilh thij might ; for there is no icork, nor 
 device, nor knoidedge, nor wisdoin in the grave, whither 
 thou goes t^ — FiCclesiastes iv. 10." 
 
 In his diary for May, 1826, he remarks: — " The
 
 OlllGLN OF Tilt: N. Y. MECHAMC.-s' f^CHOOL. 267 
 
 Lord grant that, p.s 1 am sj):irod to commence this 
 month, I may he Jisi-istcfl to pcrforn^i the duties and 
 meet the events which may he appointed. 'JMie Stute- 
 I'rison, wliich I have attended for twenty-one years, 
 will in a slioit time he hroken up, and tiie })risoners 
 he sent to the new prison at Sing-Sing. M'hc corpo- 
 ration of the city will then take possession of the old 
 hnilding. Wiiat new arrangement may take place in 
 regard to my services, 1 leave to the providence of 
 Ciod." The prison was purchased hy the corporation, 
 who took possession of it on the 18th of May. 
 
 On the 7th of this month, Mr. Stanford was 
 unanimously elected one of the vice-j)rcsidents of the 
 American Tract Society. 
 
 Friday, July 4th, he says: — " The anniversary of 
 American independence. By special invitation from 
 the committee of arrangenicnts, I attended the annual 
 celebration of the IMcchanic's Society, in Masonic 
 Hall. Made a short addres:-, and offered thanksgiving 
 and prayer. After Mr. W heaton had j)ronounced his 
 oration, I dismissed the asseinhly with the benedic- 
 tion." The improvement of this highly respectable 
 class of our fellow citizens, was an ol)ject of great 
 solicitude to Mr. S., and lie availed himself of every 
 ojtportunity to i)romote their influence, hy the increase 
 of their moral powers. With this view he early di- 
 rected his attention to tl:e sidyect of providing the 
 host possible means for the proper education of the 
 children of the New- York niochanics. He accord- 
 ingly prepared and jiublished a document, addressed 
 to the mechanics in the city of New-York, inviting 
 their particular attention to the establishment of a 
 i'uechanic's school, and describing, with a master's 
 hand, the nature, internal arrangements, and ndvant- 
 jiges of such an institution. To the gentlemen con- 
 vened for the purjioso of considering this subject, he 
 submitted the j)lan of " A 3Icchanic School,"' which, 
 with some modifications, u iis atlontcd.
 
 2S8 GOOD ADVICK TO A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 Tuesday, r2tli, he went to the Marine-Hospital, 
 antl attended all the wards. In two of them he found 
 several sailors iu a very happy and religious frame of 
 mind, with whom, in conversation, he enjoyed great 
 satisfaction. A considerable number of sailors were 
 afterwards assembled in the middle hall, to whom lie 
 gave a discourse on Psalm xcv. 5 — " ^lie sea is his, 
 Olid he made it.^^ 
 
 From ?vlr. Stanford, to Dr. Isaac Wood, Bellevuc 
 Hospital. 
 
 '• .MY DEAR Fi;lI.XD, v 
 
 " Siiicere thanks for your little basket of eggs. It 
 rcinitided me of Job's interrogation to his mistaken 
 friend Eliphaz, the Temanite: — ^Can that irhich is 
 vvsavory. he eaten idfhout salt !■ or is there any taste in 
 the 7/:hite of an eggT I suppose most people would 
 reply in the negative; though some philosophers 
 would say, there is no substance perfectly devoid of 
 tasle. However, Job's question had a direct applica- 
 tion to his injudicious and ungeticrous friend ; for 
 ceitainly his sj)eech had no more savor than relish is 
 to be found in tlie white of an agg, whether eaten 
 raw or boiled. Let us therefore remember, that on 
 visiting the afllictf <], in body or mind, alway to take 
 with us a little ' salt,'' a drachm or two of savory 
 advice, which may prove a refreshment to their 
 dejected spirits. 
 
 " Notwithstanding my present illness and gr(fat in- 
 firmities, I long for strength to allow me to visit my 
 poor j)eo[)le at JJellevue! Who can tell, but that 
 hlesse;! hand which has spared ami conducted me 
 through the dreary shades of the winter, may permit 
 me in the next month to enjoy that satisfaction ? To 
 hi> blesssed care I commend yon, and remain, 
 
 " Vour's truly, 
 
 " JOHN STANFORD."
 
 SABBATH SCHOOLS. 289 
 
 Loitl's day, 31st, Mr. S. says: — " Thus the Lord 
 has spared inc througlj another month. The heat of 
 the weather has been intense; nevertheless, the Lord 
 lias enabled rnc to preach fifty two sjfrmo.ns." 
 
 " Wednesday, 10th, rode to Bellevae. Accompa- 
 nied the Mayor and Corporation, to Bhickvvell's- 
 [sland,* to dehvcr an address at the laying of the 
 corner-stone of tlie J^cw l^enitentiary. The address 
 was ordered to be printed." 
 
 " Lord's day, 28th, morning, preached in the City- 
 Hospital, then rode to Bellevue, and preached with 
 unexpected freedom ; after which, was rowed over to 
 iihickwcll's-Island, where 1 delivered a discourse to 
 the prisoners, and made arrangements for establishing 
 a JSabbath school for the benefit of the convicts. 
 
 " October 1st. Preached in the Greenwich prison, 
 and made arrangements to form a Sabbath school for 
 the female prisoners. 
 
 " Wednesday, 8th. Rode to the Orphan-Asylum, 
 and finished my course of fourteen morning lectures 
 on the history of Joseph. 
 
 " Birth-day Memorial, on entering into my 75th 
 year, October 20th, 1828. 
 
 " How great and marvellous is the forbearance and 
 goodness of the Lord my God, in keeping me alive, 
 and upholding me in his service to this day, notwith- 
 standing my complicated infirmities! From my last 
 birth-day, 1 have been assisted to perform all my usual 
 services in the various public institutions which the 
 Lord has for so many years committed to my care, 
 and 1 hope not without some tokens of his blessing. 
 
 * This island is one mile and three quarters in length, and about six 
 hundred feet in width ; containing one hundred and ten acres. The soil is 
 excellent, and there is found an exhausUess quarry of granite, of superior 
 qu.ility. The present buildings are each four stories high, and about 
 two hundred feet iii length, and fifty in breailth, containing double lines 
 ol" celU. each three and a half feet by seven, and capable of coiiluining 
 ill ;ill, about four hundred and eighty prisoners. 
 
 25
 
 290 CLOSI.XG THE YEAR V/ITII I'RAVER. 
 
 It certainly is a cause of gratitude, tli;U the numerou^s 
 classes of my peo])le, rather increase than diminish in 
 their respectful and affectionate attention to ray ser- 
 vices. Still, from the feeling of my increasing infir- 
 mities, and a concern for the interest of my poor, 
 miserable people, I have this year indulged serious 
 thoughts, how far it was my duty to continue among 
 them as a stated preacher, or lookout for some more 
 able and active minister to take my place ; but, as yet. 
 I have found no person disposed to assume the re- 
 sponsibility of niinistering to these unfortunate beings, 
 or to engage to perform the requisite amount of active 
 service. I have therefore concluded that it was the 
 will of my God, whom 1 serve in the gospel of Christ, 
 that I should persevere. 
 
 "This year I have been led to know and feel Piiore 
 deeply, what Solomon calls ' the phigucof a man'' sown 
 heart,' than ever 1 kneu- or felt before. It is there- 
 fore my daily and fervent prayer, that my faith, love, 
 patience, and obedience, may more abundantly in- 
 crease ; that I might be kept ' steadfasl and nmnovc- 
 ablc, always abound ing in the wurJcof the Lord;^ that I 
 may be found in Christ, and that my last change may 
 be honourable to God, whether I shall be favoured 
 with a warning of the event, or be suddenly lemoved 
 from time to eternity. Amen.^' 
 
 December 31st, 1828, 3Ir. Stanford says:—" Thus 
 ends another year. O that my heart were more 
 deeply impressed with a sense of the long-suffering, 
 patience, and goodness of God towards n)e ! 1 most 
 humbly pray, that I may be sanctified by the spirit 
 of Christ, that my faith, hope, and obedience, may in- 
 crease with my days, and llial I may he prepared for 
 my departure. This year preached I'lVE HU.NDUi i) 
 AM) TWENTV-TMliEi: SERiMOX?;." 
 
 Monday, March IGth, 3Ir. S. says: — " In the after- 
 noon, I visited the two murderers in the Bridewell. 
 They are to be executed on the 7th of Mav." In
 
 REV. JOHN STA.NFOUD, D. D. 
 
 291 
 
 rofci-oncc to one of these indivitlimls, Mr. S. considered 
 it liis duty, at an early j)erioil after conviction, to cor- 
 respond witii the Governor of the State; but upon a 
 further examination of this man's case, he became 
 satisfied of the actual ;,niilt, and aggravated barbarity 
 of the culprit, and therefore resolved to withhold his 
 appeal to the j)ardonini>- pov.er of the executive. Tiiis 
 is another instance, alike creditable to the heart and 
 discrimination of our departed friend. The sympa- 
 thies of his soul at first prompted him to the noble 
 effort of saving another individual from destruction, 
 but upon a re-investigation of the facts in the case, 
 he declined to interfere; fully convinced, that to 
 mingle justice with mercy, and to preserve a human 
 being from death, without violating those precautions 
 which are necessary for the welfare of human society, 
 is indeed an important trust — a responsible power, 
 which ought to be exercised with great caution, and 
 with a humble reliance upon the special guidance of 
 Divine Providence. 
 
 May 17th, Lord's day, Mr. S. says: — " Morning, 
 preached in the City-Hospital. Rode to Bellevue, 
 preached twice in the chapel, and once in the Peni- 
 tentiary. After which, attended several sick jiersons, 
 and prayed with them. Yesterday the female pris- 
 oners were removed from the Greenwich prison to 
 this place, in a steam-boat. On the passage, one of 
 the women jumped overboard and was drowned." 
 
 In the month of August, Mv. S. received from the 
 faculty of Union College, in this state, the degree of 
 Doctor of Divinity. An honour which he eminently 
 merited. 
 
 Wednesday, September 30th, Dr. S. remarks: — 
 " Rode to the building erected for the Deaf and 
 Dunjb institution, to assist in its dedication." This 
 event must have been peculiarly gratifying to his 
 feelings, from the fact that he \\ as permitted, through 
 the medium of the press, and by various other means,
 
 292 ORIGIN OF THE INSTITUTION FOR TflE 
 
 to call the attention of the public to the subject, more 
 than ten years j)rior to the commencement of this 
 institution. To prove that Dr. Stanford's progress 
 in the walks of pliilanthropy was untiring, enougli 
 has been recorded upon the preccditig jiages; but 
 it is due no less to this comnninity, than to the me- 
 mory of our departed fiicnd, once more to present 
 him in a light, as honourable to his own reputation 
 as it is gratifying to his friends, and has i)roved emi- 
 nently bencticia! to a hi?;hly interesting class of suf- 
 ferers, who are entitled to universal commiseration. 
 
 As early as 1807, the sympathy of Dr. Stanford 
 was excited by the deplorable condition of several 
 deaf mutes, whom poverty and friendless destitution 
 had brought into the New-Yoi"k Alms-Ilouse. Deeply 
 impressed with a sense of their wretchedness, he lost 
 no time in devising and executing a plan for their 
 amelioration. His first stej) was, to form them into 
 a class, and having procured the requisite number of 
 slates, and obtained tluuiidof an assistant, he began, 
 by teaching them to write, and soon enjoyed the satis- 
 faction of vvitnessiniT, in their evident improvement, 
 the entire success of his benevolent |)lan. This was 
 probably the first institution in America, which exem- 
 plified the a])proi)riate motto of his learned friend, 
 Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill, ^Vknria Manns Linguce' — 
 The hand a substitute for the tongue. Owing to 
 the changes whi(di occurred in the Alms-IIouse, this 
 early sckool for the deaf and dumb, was, after a time, 
 necessarily discontinued ; but the object was not aban- 
 doned. When, in 181G, William l^ee, Esq. fornierly 
 the American consul at lioideaux, r< t(nned to this 
 city, and laid before Dr. Mitchill, Dr. Stanford, and 
 other gentlemen, the circular l(;tter from Mr. (iard, 
 the teacher of deaf mutes in JJordeaux, it was the 
 opinion of all present, that a select meeting of gentle- 
 men ought to be immediately called, to discuss the 
 subject, and consider the pro])riety of adopting mea-
 
 INSTRUCTION OF DEAF MUTKS ii\ NEW-YORK. 293 
 
 sures with a view to the estahhshiiicnt of an institution 
 upon a liljcral and extended basis, for the instruction 
 of the numerous deaf and dumb throughout the State 
 of New- York. In compliment to the early enterprise 
 of Dr. S. as the lirt^t person in this community who 
 had engaged in this benevolent work, it was proposed 
 that the lirst public meeting should be convened at 
 his house. The following gentlemen were present, 
 viz. — Dr. S. L. Mitchiil, Dr. Samuel Ackerly, Mr. 
 Nicholas Roorne, Mr. R. Wheaton. Mr. James Pal- 
 mer, Mr. Silvanus Miller, General Jonas Mapes, Mr. 
 Elisha W. King, ftlr. John B. Scott, Rev. Drs. 
 Stanford and M'Leod. After a full discussion of the 
 important object of the meeting, they adjourned, to 
 meet at a future day in Tammany-Hall." This was 
 succeeded by other meetings, the doings of which re- 
 sulted in the formation of the present noble institution ; 
 which was incorporated by an act of the legislature, 
 on the 15th of April, 1817, and has furnished accom- 
 modations for hundreds of unfortunate beings, who, 
 but for the instruction which they there received, 
 would have gone down to the grave, ignorant, not 
 only of the benefits of science, but of the blessings of 
 the gospel of Christ. 
 
 " Birth-day Memorial, on entering my 76th year, 
 October 20th, 1829. 
 
 " To record the goodness, forbearance, and mercy 
 of the Lord, is a service due alike to Christian prin- 
 ciple and to gratitude. To those who consider tlie 
 ways of Providence, and realize the blessing of grace, 
 there are no days that do not lay us under obligations 
 to express our thanksgivings to the Lord our God. 
 But what obligations am I under this day, for his in- 
 numerable mercies ; and the long-suftering of my God 
 to me, in sparing me amidst so many evils and infir- 
 mities. On my last birth-day, when I wrote the 
 memorial of my preservation, and all the goodness 
 which the Lord had bestowed upon me ; the infirmities 
 
 25*
 
 294 LETTER FROM HON. PHILIP HONE, ESQ. 
 
 of my person were so many and oppressive, that in- 
 stead of expecting to survive until the present hour, I 
 expected to be numbered with the dead. When, 
 therefore, I review the events of the past year, the 
 continuation of my pubHc services, the numerous evils 
 of my heart, and the abundant patience of God in 
 holding me in life to this day; I am lost in admira- 
 tion, and devoutly wish that my heart were filled with 
 love, and gratitude, and praise. 
 
 " My chief anxiety now is, to subdue the body of 
 sin, which wars against my peace and comfort ; so 
 that, whether I shall be called suddenly, or be per- 
 mitted to lie on the bed of lingering infirmity and 
 sickness, that I may leave some humble testimony of 
 the Lord's goodness, forbearance, and tender mercy, 
 to me, the chief pf sinners." 
 
 The following is a letter from the Hon. Phili|) 
 Hone, Esq. late Mayor of New-York, to the llev. 
 John Stanford, D. D. 
 
 " Monday, May Sd, 1830. 
 
 •' REV. AND DEAR SIR, 
 
 '' i should have replied sooner to your letter of 30th 
 of April, but intended to call at your house. In this 1 
 have been prevented by numerous engagements. It 
 does ajipear to me, my excellent friend, that your ago 
 and infirmity demands that you should relinquish your 
 duties at the Ahns-House, except so much of them as 
 your inclination may still induce you to perform. If 
 any man in our commimity is entitled to the ease and 
 comfort which should accompany old age, you cer- 
 tainly are, for no man hag dcrMcd a lander proportion 
 of his life anil services to ihc goofl, of hi^ suffering- and 
 unfortunate fellou'-creatures. Your power to serve 
 them, in a limited degree, still, I trust, remains; 
 and your benevolent disposition will not suffer you to 
 femain idle, as long as you have the ability to do good*
 
 THK AGED CimiriTIAN'.-^ CABINET. 295 
 
 Continue then at tlic Hospital, but relinquish the 
 Alnis-House and Penitentiary. You have never ac- 
 (juainted uic with the state of your pecuniary affairs; 
 but I hope they are such, that the sacrifice of the 
 small pittance which you ha\e heretofore received 
 from that quarter, will not occasion you inconvenience ; 
 and I trust our corporation will not forget the services 
 you have so long rendered them. 
 
 " Amidst the cares and vexations of 'life, of which 
 1 have some, but happily not an ovcr-pro|)ortion, it 
 is a source of pride and consolation, that 1 am 
 allowed to Hatter myself that I enjoy the fricndshi|) 
 and good opinion of my venerable friend, and early 
 preceptor. 
 
 " My wife and children are well, and very thankful 
 for your kind remembrance of them. 1 intend to call 
 and see you very soon. 
 
 " Your affectionate friend, 
 
 • PHILIP HONE.' 
 
 On entering his 77th year, Dr. S. remarks: — 
 " Looking into my diary, it seconds the record in my 
 own conscience, of numberless im})erfections, and the 
 host of evils vvhicli lodge within my heart. Worn 
 down by age and infn-mities, 1 have sensibly realized 
 a painful languor throughout my .system. And yet, in 
 this declining state, 1 have not only been assisted to 
 perform my usual services in the public institutions, 
 and to make a free use of my pen; but have been 
 called to perform several extra public duties. Never- 
 theless, the conflicts of my mind and heart, during the 
 past year, have been very great, so that I am under 
 the greatest possible obligation to adore and praise 
 the Lord for his forbearance, long-suflering, and mercy 
 to me, the most unworthy of all his servants. 1 must 
 add, that for several nionths, I have been also em- 
 ployed in superintending the printing of my ' Aged 
 Christian's Cabinet,' the last half sheet of which, was
 
 296 THE EVERLASTING SABBATISM. 
 
 delivered to me from the press, on the very day when 
 I was taken ill. ' The will of the Lord be done.'' " 
 
 This is a handsome octavo, of 450 pages, con- 
 taining a series of most useful, and well written 
 essays, calculated to promote the moral benefit, and 
 consolation of the class of persons to whom they arc 
 addressed. The work is written in a pleasing and 
 familiar style. The chief design of the writer, to pro- 
 mote devotional feelings, and to sooth the asperities in- 
 cident to advanced age, is well jireserved throughout 
 the volume ; and it is tiuly gratifying to contemplate 
 that glowing piety, blended with sound instruction, 
 which pervades the whole. The work may be confi- 
 dently recommended to the perusal of the aged disci- 
 ple, as eminently conducive to elevate and to establish 
 his Christian character, and powerfully to co-operate 
 in preparing him for the solemnity of death, and the 
 immortal bliss of the upper temple. 
 
 Lord's day, rSovemUer otii, Dr. S. remarks: — " I 
 earnestly prayed that I might be permitted to spend 
 this Sabbath in hope of one that never shall end. The 
 Lord has heard and answered my petition."
 
 CHAPTER XVil. 
 
 DR. STANFOnU CONPINliD TO IlfS I'll AMiJIii:, lil.T CO.NTIMT.S 
 T.) LAKOCK Foil THK BliNLFIT OF TIIK I'LISMC IXSTllL- 
 
 T10NS UM)I:K his care ANOTHKK NEV.' TRACT l.hTTtKS 
 
 TO MRS. W'ETMOnr. MEMORIAL — ANGTIILK 'JKALJ', oN 
 
 MORMNG AND KVEMNU DEVOTION. 
 
 Saturday, February 5tli, 18-31. Dr. Stcinfjrd says : 
 " In- the afternoon felt happy in having been enabled 
 to finish my account of the Public Institutions, and 
 hope it may be useful." 
 
 His " Annual Reports" to the Honourable the 
 Mayor and Common (Council of the city of New- 
 York, were always regarded with interest, as docu- 
 ments of great public utility, and ordered to be 
 printed. 
 
 in approaching the termination of this memoir, it 
 has become necessary to omit many things, the re- 
 cortl of which, would, under other circumstances, be a 
 duty; but to preserve the limits originally prescribed, 
 we shall be restricted almost entirely to the gleaning 
 of a few brief excerpts from his diary, which i>ortray 
 his history at remote intervals, up to the period when 
 he closed his useful life, and took wing for tiie regions 
 of glory. 
 
 Tuesday, March 29th, he remarks: — " Finished a 
 paper containing thirteen jjoges, on Hiding ilic Jlord 
 of God wiihin the Heart. 31ay it prove a blessing to 
 all who read it." 
 
 During the present and two succeeding years. Dr. 
 Stanford addressed several interesting letters to his 
 excellent friends, Mr. and Mis. AVetmore, from which
 
 298 LETTER TO MRS. WETMORE. 
 
 selections will be given in tlie order of their respective 
 dates. The following- was written, 
 
 ' ''June 2lst, 1831. 
 
 " 31Y DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 " This morning I told Thomas that 1 would make 
 an effort to write you a few lines in the course of tlic 
 day, should my pains and debility permit. For, as it 
 is to be expected, every week evinces that my flesh is 
 sinking to the dust. But I constantly commit the 
 progress, fast or slow, to the good uill and pleasure 
 of my heavenly Father. 
 
 " As I am aluiost incapable of performing any pub- 
 lic service, and can seldom venture to walkout, per- 
 haps you may wish to be informed how I employ my 
 hours in seclusion. I am daily engaged, more or less, 
 in looking over the book of my life, which contains 
 many hundred pages, and is divided into seventy-eight 
 chapters. It contains the record of many events 
 which are calculated to humble me before the Lord ; 
 yet how great has been the patience, mercy, and good- 
 ness of my God, in permitting this volume to become 
 so large ! The book of my experience 1 also daily 
 .look over, but it is very small ; some of its leaves are 
 spotted, ragged, and torn, so that it frequently puzzles 
 me to road it ; yet I find written at the end of almost 
 <'vciy cli;i{)ter, ' Hither lo Ihc Lord haik helped mc.' 
 But what j))ay be th.c contents of the last chapter, J 
 must leave for others to read. Oidy I hope the Lord 
 will not forsake me. What engages me mo.^t, is the 
 book of God — my Bible. This is my most valuable 
 companion, and from it I derive knowledge, comfort, 
 and strength ; although I must confess that I am a 
 poor scholar, and know comj)aratively little, and f(U'l 
 less of its rich and valuable contents than I wish to 
 enjo\ , and should have notliing unless the Spirit of 
 my heavenly Saviour had taught me. 
 
 " However, wherein I have been deficient in t!ic
 
 PItAYF.U I'OIl THE LIGHT OF LIFE. 299 
 
 proper use of sucli ImoUs, may it please the Lura lo 
 cause you, anil yoiu's, more fully to abound. 
 
 "' Year's truly, 
 
 " JOHN STANFORD.-' 
 
 " Lord's day, 22(1. The Lord having <;^raciou.sly 
 been pleased tiiat I should behold the light of aijothcr 
 Sabbath, I was encau raged to look to liis throne for 
 his blessing on my private exercises in prayer, read- 
 ing, and meditation. But in the afternoon and even- 
 ing my mind became depressed. My dark days will 
 sooM terminate. O Lord, itrant me t!ic light of 
 life!" 
 
 On entering his 78th year. Dr. S. remarks: — 
 '• Preserved by my good and gracious Lord, to sec 
 the close of another year, I shall note some of the 
 events which demand my sincere gratitude and praise. 
 
 " My health has, continued in a flucttsating state, 
 and conse{[uently my public services, as must be cx- 
 j)ected, arc performed under painful circumstances. 
 As to the use of my pen, this has made a part of my 
 private exercise ; when capable of occupying my chair, 
 I have a'.unvercd many of my distant correspondents; 
 occasionally written oa subjects in relation to the 
 Corporation and the public iiiterest, and a number of 
 theological essays, «fcc. so that my private hours were 
 not altogether unemployed. Bat my chief cdiii fort has 
 h-->'n in reading i'ljj Bible. 
 
 " Although I still continue under great infirmity, 
 and so much i)ain as to prevei'.t me from public dusies, 
 I hope I am submissive to the will of my Lord. The 
 tl.ile of my age this day su:ii;;icnt!y admoni.-;!!'.'s xw, 
 iliat the time of my departure fro-n this world is at 
 iiand. But blessed be God, ' / knun' idiom I have 
 heJieral, an:l am persuaded that he is able to hcep that 
 arhieh f have comniiifed vnto him agai)i.<t that day,'' 
 when time with lae shall be no longer. Still, I pray 
 tor more light from above. Alas! thh ^ body of sin
 
 300 THE STAM'OllD LIBRARY AT BCLLEVUE. 
 
 and dcallC is more dcpressino' to my soul than ail tiic 
 bouily j)ains which I eiuline. O how thankful I am 
 that the Lord hath proniiscil ; '■it shall come to pass Hint 
 at evening lime it shall be light.'' 
 
 " Wednesday, 2Gth. Dejicndiiig on the help of 
 the Lord, I ventureil to ride to Bellevue, in the hope 
 of being able to establish a library for the benefit of 
 the poor." 
 
 The reader has no doubt, ere this, perceived that 
 the efforts of Dr. Stanford to benefit the souls com- 
 mitted to his care, were not limited to the mere 
 routine of what might strictly be considered as in- 
 volved in the duties of his chajjlaincy ; but, that he 
 endeavoured, by every means in his power, to promote 
 their hapj)iiicss and moral iiwprovcment. This will 
 become still further evident, by the following extract 
 from his address to the Board of Commissioners of 
 the City Alms-llouse. 
 
 " GENTI.E.MKN, 
 
 " It has for many years past been my earnest wish, 
 that an effort might be made to form a library (or 
 the particular bencfjt of the poor in the City Alms- 
 House, as a means under Cod of promoting their 
 comfort and improvement. 
 
 " The following njcthod has suggested itself to my 
 mind, as a measure by which the object might gradu- 
 ally be attained, without expense to the board ; I 
 therefore beg leave to ofter the following sugges- 
 tions." 
 
 Here follow many judicious and practical remarks. 
 He then goes on to say : — " Willi the above sugges- 
 tions, and the outline of a plan for the proper arrange- 
 ment and regulation of the library when formed, 
 allow me to recpiest the favour of your acce[)tnncc of 
 six co])ies of my ' Aged Christian's Cabinet,' for the 
 use of the aged under yonr charge in ihis house, in 
 the ho])c thiit the liOrd may make l!:om the means of
 
 TRACT O.N MORNING AND EVENING DEVOTION. 301 
 
 contributing to tlieir instruction and comfort; and by 
 so doing, you will exceedingly gratify, 
 
 " Your old chaplain and sincere fiiend, 
 
 "JOHN STANFORD. 
 " September BOth, 1831." 
 
 " At a meeting of the officers of the Bellevue Es- 
 tablishment, on Friday evening, the 8th of December, 
 1831 ; 
 
 " Moved, and seconded. That the code of laws 
 proposed by Dr. Stanford be adopted. Carried. 
 
 " Moved, and seconded, That a library committee 
 be appointed by the chair. Carried. When the Rev. 
 H. Tappin, Dr. I. Wood, J. Cox, G. W. Taylor, and 
 E. M. Guion, were named, and approved of. 
 
 " Moved, and seconded. That this meeting, as or- 
 ganized, be called the ' Stanford Library Association 
 of Bellevue,' and that Jameson Cox be president of 
 this Association, and E. M. Guion, secretary. Carried. 
 
 " E. M. GUION, Secretary." 
 
 July 3d, 1832, Dr. Stanford remarks:—" It pleased 
 the Lord to enable me to finish a little tract on morn- 
 ing and evening devotion, for which I am thankful. 
 May I still be assisted to bring forth fruit in my old 
 ago, to the praise of God, and the benefit of my 
 tcllovv-creatures." 
 
 Several thousand copies of this valuable pamphlet, 
 were printed at his own expense, for gratuitous distri- 
 bution. We regret that the want of room will not 
 jionuit its insertion in the present volume. 
 
 From Dr. Stanford to Mrs. Wetmore. 
 
 " Juli/ 21st, 1832. 
 
 •■ MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 " In this solemn time of public calamity, when 
 pestilence walketh in darkness, it is well for friends 
 
 26
 
 302 LETTER TO MIl.S. V/ETMORK. 
 
 to inquire, and receive information from each other of 
 their welfare; and therefore, this paper messenger 
 will ask, IIo\v is it with you and your's? and how is 
 it in the hospital ? David tells us. Psalm ix. 16, that 
 ' Tkii Lord is known hi] the judgment U'/iich lie exccutctk.^ 
 And it is my prayer, that the inhabitants of this city, 
 may see the hand that smiteth them, and that we may 
 turn unto the Lord in penitence and reformation, and 
 be a people to his praise. But, of this 1 am certain, 
 if the Lord should not accompany his present judg- 
 ment with his Spirit and gospel, to teach and humble 
 us, we shall still bo left in ignorance and stupidity, 
 and it will be written of us, ' The people turncth nut 
 unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord 
 vf Hosts'' — Isaiah ix. 13. Strong reasons these why 
 we should be found in prayer at the throne of mercy. 
 
 " Most of niy friends [>elieve that I have pretty 
 nearly got to the head-waters of the river of old age, 
 which may be said to be seventy-eight miles long. 
 l>ut I consider myself as lying at anchor in the bay of 
 mortality, waiting for the pilot to take me into the 
 port of peace. On Wednesday last 1 met with a 
 severe storm, the effects of which 1 still feel. It 
 shattered me exceedingly. Towards evening of the 
 same day, the sentiment of David was made my own : 
 — ''Behold, here am /, let the Lord do with me what 
 secmeth him goodJ' This greatly composed my mind 
 then, and continues to do so now. 
 
 " That the liOrd may be your preserver, and finally 
 grant you and your's an entrance into his everlasting 
 kingdom, through Christ Jesus our Lord, is the sin- 
 cere prayer of 
 
 " Your's truly, 
 
 ' JOHN STANFORD." 
 
 On Friday, July 27th, Dr. Stanford wrote on a 
 scrap of paper, found in his desk, " I wmn jo i.jve 
 
 AS A SAINT, AND TO DIE AS A SENSIBLE Sl.N^EK,
 
 IHK EBENEZEU. 303 
 
 I.OOKLNG FOPx. THE MKRCY OF OUR LORD JESU« 
 CHRIST, UXTO ETERNAL I.IFIC. J. S. July 27th, 
 
 183 >." 
 
 liOrd's (lay, Soptomber 2il, Dr. S. remarks: — 
 " Mercifully assisted to perforin my private e.vercises 
 of devotion, and in readinij^ two or three of my own 
 sermons in the 'Domestic Chaplain,' partictdarly the 
 sermon on ' Ciirist, the Alpha and Omega' — my faith 
 was strengthened. Thus 1 may say, the LonI has fed 
 me out of my own spoon. Blessed be the Lord for 
 all his mercies to me, who am so unworthy." 
 
 On entering into his 79th year. Dr. Stanford re- 
 marks : — " The longer the journey of our life is, the 
 greater are the dangers of the way. The more 
 abundant our mercies, the greater is the obligation to 
 erect a memorial, and to acknowledge, that ' hitherto 
 the Lord hath helped'' us. If any individual or minis- 
 ter be under obligation to erect an ebenezer, com- 
 memorative of the care and goodness of the Lord, 
 in the course of a long life, it certainly is a duty de- 
 volving upon me this day. Help me, O Lord, grate- 
 fully to acknowledge thy merciful kindness, in sparing 
 me so long. Especially do I feel thankful while I 
 remember many of my ministering brethren, and 
 many of the companions of my youth, who have 
 passed away to the shades of death, while I am 
 spare!, as a monument of the preserving mercy of 
 my good and gracious God. 
 
 " From the nature of my complicated complaints, 
 and the great advance of my age, there is every rea- 
 son to believe that my public labours in the ministry 
 of the gospel, will not be resumed. Often do I look 
 back on the scenes of my life, and particularly those 
 of the last twenty years, when my labours have been 
 more abundant than in the days of youthful vigour. 
 Deeply do I lament my numberless defects, and adore 
 the patience and long-sullering of the Lord, in per- 
 mitting so unworthy a servant to continue in his vine-
 
 304 BIGOTRY DISCLAIMED. 
 
 yard more than half a century. If I have been useful 
 to an individual, a church, an institniion, or to the 
 public, whether by preachinjf, or by writing, or any 
 other way, I attribute the whole to the influence and 
 good pleasure of niy God. 
 
 " Some in the course of their ministry have had 
 occasion to alter their opinion in regard to the more 
 important doctrines which they have preached, and 
 the ordinances which they have admiiii.^teied ; but it 
 has not been so with me. I cannot therefore but 
 record my gratitude to the Lord, for having taught 
 me the principal truths of his everlasting gospel in my 
 early experience, so that although the lines of my 
 instruction were comparatively I'aint, yet the truth 
 was precious, and ujion Jesus Christ, as the founda- 
 tion and only hope of the guilty, have 1 been building 
 ever since I first professed to know the truth ; nor 
 have I this day any doubt of its correctness. It 
 affords me pleasure to reflect, that 1 have ever been 
 open to conviction. I never was a bigot ; but sensible 
 of the deceitfulness of my own heart, 1 have always 
 been willing to receive the truth of God, wherever I 
 have found it ; and that truth will, I trust, support 
 and cheer me to the end. 
 
 " Man is perpetually living in anticipation of some 
 future good. This is |)ccuharly true in reference to 
 those who have, by the Spirit of grace, been made 
 nigh unto God through Christ Jesus. Such are em- 
 phatically expectants ; having the ' promise of the lije 
 that now is, and of thai n:hich is to eomc.'' Blessed are 
 all those who can say with David, ^All my expectation 
 is from hi?n'' — Psalm Ixii. 5. 
 
 *' Whatever I )nay need to supply the wants of my 
 body, or whatever faith, and patience, and strength, 
 I may require for the soul; for all these I look to the 
 Saviour, and say, ' The Lord is mi) Shcjjhcrd, 1 shall 
 not wantJ* I desire to render praise unto God, that 
 in conversation, in preaching, and in writing, I have
 
 ms LAST ANNUAL CENSUS. 305 
 
 frequently brcn assisted lo contemplate and to de- 
 scribe the sublime realities of religion, and the joys 
 of that heaven to which the Christian is tending. 
 Nevertheless, diirin<^ the course of this year, I have 
 had occasion to deplore a mental gloom, which 
 has often clouded my spiritual vision, and inter- 
 rupted, though, blessed be God, it has not entirely 
 ]>revented, the joys which flow from faith in the 
 Redeemer. This has, I hope, tended to humble 
 me; but I do not yield to despair, since ' The 
 Lord is mij light and mij salvation.^ '\Vhen the Isra- 
 elites were near the end of their journey, and about 
 to enter into Canaan, they had no idea how the waters 
 of Jordan would divide and permit them to pass, until 
 they had actually arrived on its bank; so I hope it 
 will be with me, when I pass the stream of death. 
 Then may I not only see the cold waters divide, and 
 Jesus, the true ark, resting in the midst, but behold, 
 by faith, the Canaan of everlasting rest, and so enter 
 for ever into the joy of my Lord ! If I can say nothing 
 else, I can truly say with David, ' This God is our 
 God, for ever awl ever, and he shall be itiy guide, even 
 unto death'' — I'salm xlviii. 14. Upon this rock would 
 I rest. I will hope and wait jiaticntly for the time, 
 and leave the means, the manner, and all other 
 circumstances in relation to my final dej)arture, in 
 the hands of God, my heavenly Father, and blessed 
 Saviour. Even so. Amen. 
 
 '• JOHN STANFORD." 
 
 January 7th and 8th, 1833. " These days," says 
 Dr. S. " have been chiefly employed in finishing my 
 annual census for the press. This is my last public 
 work, which I little thought I should have been spared 
 to accomplish. Now I wish and pray to be more 
 devoted in spiritual exercises to the Lord my God 
 and Saviour, that I may be ready for my final change. 
 Earth binds me not. Come Lord Jesus !" 
 
 26*
 
 306 TIC DOULOUREUX. 
 
 The following is an extract from a letter written 
 by the Hon. Gideon Lee. 
 
 '* DEAR AND REV. SIR, 
 
 " 1 beg leave to express my gratitude to you for 
 the book you were pleased to send me, but more 
 especially for the kind wishes and pious benedictions 
 which accompanied it. 1 thank you. Sir, as a citizen, 
 also as a magistrate, for the long, arduous, arid 
 pious service which you have been able and willing 
 to perform to an unfortunate class of our fellow 
 beings, and I pray that a good l*rovidence may still 
 spare your life through years of usefulness and en- 
 joyment. 
 
 " I am, dear Sir, 
 
 " With great respect, 
 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 
 '• GIDEON Li:i'. 
 
 ''Mayor's Office, January 2m, 1833." 
 
 " February 28th. This," says Dr. S. " ends an- 
 other month, and demaiids my thankfulness to the 
 Lord fur his forbearance, and the unnumbered in- 
 stances of his kindness through Jesus Christ. 'IMie 
 new complaint (tic douloureux,) which commenced in 
 my rigljt cheek last Lord's day morning, has much 
 increased my snfl'erings. Well, the heavenly builder 
 of this my earthly tabernacle, has been pleased, for 
 about three years past, to take out many of its ///;.&■ ; 
 the new disease may indicate that he is taking out 
 gome of the screws, which is a niore painful operation. 
 But he who built the tabernacle, and has jireserved 
 it in the wilderness of this world for nearly fourscore- 
 years, kiiows best when and how to take it <lo\vn. 
 To his wisdom and mercy I hope to be enabled to 
 submit myself. 
 
 "April 1st. My only wish is, that he will continue 
 to visit mo with his salvation, and that in every
 
 THE DOMESTIC CHAPLAIN. 307 
 
 breath I draw 1 may glorify las name, whether I live 
 to sec tlie end of this month or not. 
 
 "June 7th. Still employed in writing for my fa- 
 mily and friends. Afternoon visited by several friends. 
 Ainon<^ others, a lady who had returned from the 
 West-Indies, and who, among other things, informed 
 me that she had given one of my 'Guide to Devotion,' 
 to a pious lady of wealth, who had been confined to 
 her bed for some years. She found my little tract 
 so salutary to her own heart, that she made it a rule 
 to require her domestics to attend her, morning and 
 evening in her cliand^er, where tiie tract is used as a 
 guide in their devotional exercises. I make this note 
 as an expression of my gratitude to God for his good- 
 ness, in making my elforts useful in a distant clime. 
 
 " July 31st. Tliis day r(;ceived a copy of a new 
 edition of my ' Domestic Cha[)luin,' re-i>ubiished in 
 London. May the Lord bless it to the benefit of the 
 reader, and the glory of his own grace. This makes 
 the fourth edition.* 
 
 " October 20th, Lord's day. This morning's light 
 was accompanied with peculiar sensations, as it 
 ushered in my eightieth birth day. A thousand 
 thoughts rush.ed into my mind, and I was over- 
 whelmed with a sense of the sjiaring mercy of God, 
 and could not but exclaim witli the Psalmist — ^ Bless 
 the Lord, O my soul: and aU thai is within ine, bless 
 his holy nant'i,^ *l'.c. Psalm ciii. If I found my seven- 
 tieth year '■ laboitr,'' no won(»cr if at eighty I find it to 
 be ^ sorroic.^ This is tlie highest niunher of years in 
 the computation of human life, beyond it all is vacancy; 
 and it i3 said to be ' soo7i cut ojf\ and ice Jly away.'' 
 Lord grant me grace to iiy to the Saviour's arms, to 
 be at rest and free from sin." 
 
 * To the venerable antlior of this useful work, it must have aflbrdml 
 great satisfaction to reflect, lliat about leu thousand copies have beeu 
 pubiitLcd in EuioMt and America.
 
 308 HIS LAST LETTER TO MRS. WETMORE. 
 
 Dr. Stanford's last letter to his pious friend, Mrs. 
 AVetmore, dated 
 
 " October 2^th, 1833. 
 
 " MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 " Time is invaluable to man not only for its pre- 
 sent use, but because it bears us on its wings to a 
 solemn and inconceival)le eternity. A sense of this 
 led Moses, David, and tiiousands of others, to the 
 throne of the Most High God with this jictition — '.SVj 
 teach us to number our days, that we may apply our 
 hearts v7ito wisdom' — Psalm xc. 12. Happy simll you 
 and I be, if the Lord is pleased to teach us such 
 lessons, for we shall then be enabled to make a more 
 profitable use of the little time which may be allotted 
 us upon earth. Of this I was the more sensible last 
 Lord's day, the 20t!), when, by the sparing hand of 
 njy merciful God, I was permitted to enter into the 
 eightieth year of my age. Tiien the contents of this 
 psalm were to me highly instructive. 
 
 " There I saw my own age recorded, (ver. 10,) and 
 the descri|)tion exactly corresponds with my own 
 feelings. Tlie age of seventy is sai*l to be labour, and 
 so 1 found it ; for the powers of nature began to fail, 
 and soon after, by infirmity and disease, 1 began to 
 find ^ the grasshopper'' burdensome, although I brushed 
 off the teazing animal as well as 1 could. How long 
 I have to remain, 1 have no means to calculate; for 
 when 1 was at seventy I could read eighty, though 1 
 little expected to realize it-; but now, there is no 
 number beyond this, all that is said is, whatever may 
 be the degree of our strength that is left, ^ it is soon 
 cutoff, and ive fly away. ^ Happy indeed arc those 
 who now live by faith on Christ Jesus the Lord, for 
 when the cord of life is cut, tliey pass away to the 
 mansions of eternal rest; and this is that life I have 
 long wished to live more sensibly and more honour- 
 ably, till I go hence, to return no more.
 
 DR. Stanford's last tract. '309 
 
 " I must atltl, that fiUlion^li I know the statmient, 
 of Moses to be title, and 1 feel much of the labour 
 ami sorro\v of ohl age, yet I am not clisfonsolatc, nor 
 quite alone; for the Lord is rich in mercy and plen- 
 teous in redem])tion; aiid among many other assur- 
 ances ho hath said — ^ Even to your old (/[>;€ I am lie; 
 and tven to hoar hairs will 1 carry you: I have made, 
 and 1 will bear ; even I will carry, and uill deliver yon.' 
 Isaiah xlvi. 4. 
 
 " That this God may be your God in Christ Jesus, 
 and the God and Guide of your family even unto 
 death, is the sincere prayer of 
 
 " Your's in the Lord, 
 
 " JOHN STANFORD." 
 
 *' December lllh. I find that mture rapidly fails, 
 yet with all my conflicts I thank the Lord that the 
 breathing of my poor soul is still towards himself, 
 that he would grant me prejjaration to meet my final 
 change. Amidst all my pains, I was assisted tliis 
 day to write a small tract, ' On waiting upon God.' 
 I am thankful for what may be my last service." 
 
 January 1st, ]834, Dr. Stanford remarks: — " Un- 
 der so many infirmities, and at so advanced an age, 
 little could I have expected to have been permitted to 
 sec this New-Year. But it is the Lord's hand that sus- 
 tains me, and 1 hope to learn new lessons of his good- 
 ness, forbearance, and grace in Christ Jesus, that 
 if I am spared a little longer in this vale of tears, I 
 may be preserved from evil, and produce some fruit 
 to the honour of his blessed name, and the good of my 
 fellow-creatures." 
 
 About two o'clock on New- Year's day, 1834, im- 
 mediately in front of Dr. Stanford's house in Lispen- 
 ard-street, one hundred and fifty children, dressed in 
 the uniform costume ofthe New-York Orphan-Asylum, 
 and under the direction of their teachers, and Mr- 
 Charles C. Andrews, the superintendent: formed a
 
 310 AN AFFECTING SCENE. 
 
 group of interesting objects, which soon attriicted the 
 attention of a multitude of deliglited spectators. They 
 had come to congratulate their venerable friend and 
 father, on the return of another anniversary of his long 
 life; and as the tear of affection bedewed the eye-lids 
 of some of those hapless orphans, tliey seemed to say, 
 ^vhile they gozcd upon the good old man standing he- 
 fore the window, Our father! O our father! we shall 
 see his face no more. After an interval of twenty 
 minutes the j)atriarch came to the door; and in 
 a strain of thiiliing pathos, and paternal aflection, 
 delivered to the beloved orj)hans, whom he fami- 
 liarly used to call his ^^ dear children,'''' an address, 
 which not only evinced the tenderness and solici- 
 tude of his lieart, but seemed to portend that he 
 was then delivering to them his last message from 
 God — his dying testimony to the truth and blessedness 
 of the Christian religion. " Children, O my dear 
 children!" said he, " pray to God for new hearts. 
 Seek the Lord while he may be found. I shall meet 
 you no more, until the trumpet of the archangel wakes 
 the slumbering dead. May 1 then meet you in your 
 father's house in heaven." When the sound of his 
 voice had ceased ; the children sung the following 
 beautifully appropriate hymn, in a manner which left 
 an impression upon the minds of all present, that 
 gratitude and filial affection filled each of their hcaits. 
 
 " Let lis, or[)lmiis, look to heaven, 
 ^\"'l)once all blessings freely flow ; 
 Cliildicii's bread (ioin God is given, 
 All our wants our rather knows. 
 
 " Praise the Lord for food and raiment, 
 House and home he here provided, 
 And without our care or pajnient, 
 All our wants are well supplied." 
 
 After singing, the children alternately ascended 
 the stoop where he was standing, and received from
 
 LASr LETTF.R TO REV. JOtEI'H GRAFTON. 311 
 
 tlicir aged fiioiul, tlic custuiiinry New-Ycai's gift, as 
 a last token of his kindness ; and this most interesting 
 congregation was dismissed willi his benediction. 
 '• Tills scene," said a beholder, " was altogether one 
 of the most touching that has been witnessed in this 
 city for many years. All the respectable neighbours 
 of Dr. y. were at their doors and windows, and seerned 
 to [)artici[jato in the joy of the oged servant of Christ." 
 Who that enjoyed the luxury of this affecting spec- 
 tacle, but must have felt, that among the benevolent 
 institutions which adorn the present age, the Orphan- 
 Asylum, when pM'operly conducted, occupies a rank 
 of paramount importance, and is entitled to the 
 libral support of every frieml of the fatherless. 
 
 'J'he last letters exchanged between tiie Rev. Dr. 
 Stanford and the Kev. Joseph Grafton, whose ordi- 
 nation sermon he preached more than forty years 
 ago, (the only survivers of the ecclesiastical council 
 assenjbled on that occasion,) are here subjoined, not 
 only because in old age, they evince the same con- 
 genial piety which animated the vigour of their youth, 
 but to show tliat those veteran soldiers of the cross, 
 like David and Jonathan, were lovely in life, and in 
 di'uth they were not diviiled. 
 
 '' New- York, Deamlcr^lh, 1 833. 
 
 '• SiY Vl.KV DI;aR FRir.M), 
 
 •'It was gratifying to receive ont^ more letter fronx 
 your friendly hand. I thank the Lord for his kind- 
 ness in supporting, comforting, and making you useful 
 in his Church to so late a pcMiotl \n iil'e. And, I doubt 
 m>t, but that your heavenly Tat her will still continue 
 to fullil his promises to you, and give you such supply 
 of grace, as shall enable you to glorify him, to your 
 final hour. I have an impr(\<sion, that your last two 
 letters to me, were more spiiitual than some whicli 
 preceded them, and I could not but bless the I.oni
 
 312 LAST LETTER TO REV. JOSEPH GRAFTON. 
 
 Oil your behalf, that lie kept you in such intimate 
 n(;arness to himself, and in such lively exercise of 
 faith, in the blessed Lord Jesus. These are realities 
 which 1 daily need, and for which my soul labours and 
 prays continually before the Lord. At present your 
 situation is different from mine ; as you are allowed 
 to perform public duties in the church, and administer 
 the ordinances of the Lord Jesus; whereas, 1 an> 
 precluded from the house of God, and public com- 
 munion with his saints. My Lord, who, 1 hope, 
 opened my iieart and mouth to preach his blessed 
 gospel, nearly sixty years ago, has closed my lips, 
 so that I have not delivered a discourse for several 
 months; and owing to the dropsy in my chest, I can 
 hold but short conversation with my visiting friends. 
 Well, I used to delight in the Lord's public service; 
 but from the day he was pleased to lay his hand upon 
 me, and shut me up in private, 1 have had no anxious 
 wish to renew ray former activity, but learn submis- 
 sion to his holy will. He has not yet done so with 
 you. All he allows me is, the use of a pair of eyes to 
 reu<l, and my hand to v.ritc ; and however imperfectly, 
 yet I can employ them, and praise his name for the 
 blessings 1 enjoy. But, I must likewise confess, that 
 my poor old heart is so often infested with wandering 
 thoughts, that I frequently thiidc that it more resem- 
 bles a den of thieves, than a residence for my God and 
 Saviour. This too, perhaps, is not your case so much 
 as mine. You know that Satan made a more daring 
 attack upon the blessed Jesus, when he was in the 
 solitary wilderness; and no wonder that lie assails 
 me, in nty afflictive seclusion from public service. 
 \\ oil, we know that the Son of God was tempted, that 
 he might succour those that are temjHcd ; and, I pray 
 that every assault may lead me nearer to his gracious 
 arms. When I j)reached your ordination sermon, 
 about forty years ago, I knew very little of such con- 
 flict.s ; and perhaps this was the case with you; but,
 
 LETTEn FIIOM THE REV. JOSEPH GRAFTON. 313 
 
 by reading the Bible, and the history of God's people, 
 it seems that tl)c roughest part of the journey is 
 reserved for the last. 
 
 " That the Lord maybe sensibly present with you, 
 vour family, and congregation, is the sincere prayer 
 of 
 
 " Your's, affectionately in the Lord, 
 
 "JOHN STANFORD." 
 
 " Newtoimi, January Ath, 1834. 
 
 " MY DEAR BROTHER STANFORD, 
 
 " Your kind epistle, post-marked December 8th, 
 was received. I thank you for your affectionate re- 
 membrance of me, and for the good and pious senti- 
 ments it contained. To wait upon the Lord, and to 
 wait for the Lord, O how sustaining to the soul, amidst 
 the trials of life, and the infirmities of old age. It is 
 by the kindness of our blessed Lord, that he re- 
 plenishes our lamps, and pours into them the oil of 
 liis grace, or they would certainly go out. 
 
 ' O to grace, how great a debtorl' 
 
 " How pleasing, how supporting it is, to reflect 
 upon the purpose of God in Christ Jesus. Not any 
 covenant made with you or me, nor with Abraham, 
 but with him who is the believer's life, and the surety 
 of his salvation. ' O for faith to credit what the 
 Almighty saith !' ' Believe, and take the promised 
 rest.' Our light aflliction, which is but for a moment, 
 — a moment to suffer, a moment to wait — then comes 
 the crown of glory. Is it not your constant prayer, 
 Lord, increase my faith, confirm my hope, enlarge my 
 views .^ I trust that it is. Well, the happy day will 
 soon arrive, when the weary j)ilgrims will reach the 
 peaceful shores of everlasting bliss. 
 
 " May the good Lord prepare us both for our de- 
 parture. I generally preach half the Lord's day, 
 risit the sick, attend funerals, &:c. In view of death, 
 
 27
 
 314 REV. DRS. BROWALEE, KNOX, AND DE WITT. 
 
 my hope, my only hope, is in the atonement of Jesus 
 Christ, and tlie imputation of his righteousness for 
 justification, when the King shall come in to view 
 the guest. O may we, my brother, ^befuund in him!' 
 These sentiments, 1 think, accord with your's, and 
 iiere is the solid rock. 
 
 ' Jesiis, my God, I know his name, 
 His name is all my tiu.-t.' 
 
 " I often think with you, that when writing to a 
 friend, it may he my last letter. JJut may ice cor- 
 respond as long as our heads can dictate, and our 
 tremulous fingers trace a line. 
 
 " Our Theological Institution flourishes — we have 
 fifty students. Your young friend, T. G. Freeman, 
 is well — I esteem him highly. 
 
 " My dear brother vrill, 1 hope, excuse the imper- 
 fections of this letter — take it as it is, and with it my 
 sincere prayers, tliat the God of grace may be your 
 all in all, in time, in death, and in eternity. 
 
 " Your aged and affectionate brother in the Lord, 
 
 " JOSEPH GRAFTON. ' 
 
 Friday, January 10th, Dr. S. says :— " At noon, tlie 
 Kev. Drs. Brownlec, Knox, and ]>ewitt, of the Dutch 
 Church, made me an affectionate and higly accepta- 
 ble visit. Evening more unwell. Lord be with me I" 
 
 " Saturday, 11th. Arose this morning much de- 
 bilitated. AVrote a long letter to a friend at the City 
 Hospital. Spent the remainder of the day in looking 
 unto the Lord." 
 
 The annexed lithograph, exhibits a fac simile of 
 the last words he wrbte, probably about six hours 
 before his translation to the abodes of peace. 
 
 'I'hus.on Tuesday, the 14th of January, 1834, about 
 midnight, died this faithful servant of Christ, as he 
 lived, a firm believer in the doctrines of the gos])el of 
 our Lord and Saviour — full of days, and full of faith
 
 LETTER, OF CONDOLE.N'CE. 315 
 
 and hope. He has realized the accomplishment of the 
 tiedaration: — " Tkoii slialt come to Ihy g;rave in a full 
 iiji;!', like as a shock of corn comctli in his season.''^ 
 
 When the departure of this devoted minister was an- 
 nounced, all seemed to feel that a great man in Israel 
 had fallen, and citizens of all parties united in doinir 
 iionour to his memory, lie was buried on the 16th of 
 January, and was followed by more than sev'enty cler- 
 gymen of various religious denominations, and a nu- 
 merous concourse of the most respectable inhabitants 
 of New- York. About two hundred orphan children 
 were placed in front of the long procession, which 
 moved from his house in l/ispcnard-strect, to the Baj)- 
 tist Church in Oliver-street, which was crowded by a 
 vast congregation of more than two thousand persons. 
 The public services were introduced by an appropri- 
 ate prayer by the Rev. Dr. Brownlec, of the Dutch 
 CJuirch, the impressive and interesting funeral address 
 was delivered by the Rev. Sj)encer H. Cone, and the 
 Rev. Dr« Milnor, of the Episcopal Church, made the 
 concluding prayer, and dismissed the deeply affected 
 audience. 
 
 The following are from among the numerous letters 
 of condolence which were sent to the bereaved chil- 
 dren of Dr. Stanford. 
 
 From the Rev. George Upfold, D. D. Rector of 
 Trinity Church, Pittsburgh, to T. N. Stanford. 
 
 " ratsburgh, Jcmuary 21th, 1834. 
 
 " iMY DEAR SIR, 
 
 " It is with deep and unfeigned regret, that I have 
 just learned the decease of your venerable father, my 
 most esteemed friend ; and I cannot refrain from ex- 
 pressing to you my sympathy in this severe bereave- ' 
 meat. There is no person for whom I entertained a 
 iaigher regard, both as a man and a Christian, and 1
 
 3J6 LETTER OF CONDOLENCE, 
 
 think I never heard of any one, who bore the increas- 
 ing infirmities of old age with such uniform jDatiencc 
 and cheerfuhiess, and such devout submission to the 
 will of God. When 1 parted from him in May last, 
 he intimated, with much feeling, what indeed seemed 
 almost evident, that ho should never see me more on 
 this side of the grave. He spoke with calm compo- 
 sure of his probable early departure, and expressed 
 himself ready for the summons, come when and hov.- 
 it might. Death was to him a familiar topic of 
 thought and of consolation, and he anticipated it as a 
 peaceful transition to a life of everlasting bliss. Amid 
 your grief for his loss, you have the uspeakable con- 
 solation to believe that his anticipations are realized, 
 and to contemplate him now as a happy inmate of the 
 paradise of God. He has gone to his God and to his 
 reward, as a shock of corn fidly ripe. And if untiring 
 efforts to do good to his fellow-men, will, as the scrip- 
 ture leaves us no room to doubt, swell the recompense 
 of the man of God, your venerated father v/ill meet a 
 recompense which in fulness of glory, falls to the lot 
 of few who pass from time into eternity. For a long 
 period of years he has been the friend and spiritual 
 counsellor of the poor, and the wretched, and the out- 
 cast. His labours have been carried on amid scenes 
 of suffering and distress, which few are able to ap- 
 preciate. It was my privilege, in years past, to be 
 frequently with him in his visits of mercy to two 
 of the public institutions of the city of IN'ew-York, 
 which formed a part of his charge, and I can bear 
 testimony to the fidelity with which he rej)roved 
 the guilty, and the tenderness with which he soothed 
 and comforted the mourner, and the boldness with 
 which he preached the word of life, as well as to the 
 uniform respect and attention with which his labours 
 of love were received by the forlorn and miserable 
 objects to whom he ministered. He has been pre- 
 eminently useful among a class of beings, who but for
 
 LETTER OF CONDOLENCE. 317 
 
 him would have had Uttlc or no opportunity of hearing 
 the <^ospel ot" Christ; and in tlje great and final ac- 
 count, many vvrotched out-casts, brought through his 
 aftectionate admonitions to repentance and reforma- 
 tion, will appear as seals of his ministry, and rise up 
 and call him hlessed; and if they who turn many to 
 righteoiisnesSj shall shine as stars for ever and ever, 
 he who lias been so devoted in the work, so peculiarly 
 the friend of the friendless, and of those uho had none 
 to help, will shine as a star of the first magnitude, in 
 that bright constellation of saints, which sliall revolve 
 around the throne of God and the liamb. 
 
 '' My family unite with me in symj)athy for the loss 
 you have sustained, and in respect for him who is 
 gone. 
 
 " Very affectionately and truly your friend, 
 
 " GEORGE UPFOLD. ' 
 
 Extract of a letter from Samuel Hope, Esq. of 
 Liverpool, England, to the same, dated, 
 
 " May 2Qth, 1834. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 " I did not receive your letter of the 23d of January, 
 announcing the long apprehended removal of your ex- 
 cellent father from the scene of his active and useful 
 labours, till about a fortnight or three weeks since. 
 When it arrived, I was in South-Wales, in pursuit of 
 health, having suffered so severely from the effects of 
 overstrained attention to public and private business, 
 as to occasion the greatest anxiety to my friends, and 
 to render my immediate retirement from the bustle 
 of business indispensably necessary; and niy wife 
 being also unwell, your letter had been mislaid. 
 1 had, however, been informed, meanwhii j, of this 
 event, by our mutual and excellent friund, Mrs. 
 Bethune, who also gave me several pleasii ,' particu- 
 lars of his feelings and doings during his I...: illness. 
 It i^ most gratifying to me, that in offering- to vourself 
 
 2T*
 
 318 LETTER OF CONDOLENCE. 
 
 and the other surviving relatives of my departed friend 
 and father, the expression of my sincere condolence. 
 I can confidently address you as " those who sorrow, 
 but not without hope ;" he having left the most satis- 
 factory evidence that could be desired, of your loss 
 being his unspeakably great, and never-ending gain. 
 Let it be your aim, my dear Sir, to emulate his faith 
 and his example, so far as he trod in the footsteps of 
 his Redeemer, (for though I know them not, he, like 
 all others, must have had his imperfections, seeing a 
 perfect transcript of the spotless character of the Son 
 of God is not to be found) imitate, in the confident 
 hope, that you will not only thereby, like him, greatly 
 serve the cause of God in your generation, but that 
 it will, more than any thing else, except the well- 
 grounded assurance of an interest in the love of 
 Christ, make a sick and dying bed easy, and smoothc 
 your passage to the tomb. 
 
 " Believe me, my dear Sir, 
 
 " Your's very sincerely, 
 
 " SAMUEL HOPE."
 
 SUMMARY VIEW. 
 
 It will be a sufficiqnt apology for the brevity of the 
 following analysis of the private and public character 
 of the Rev. Dr. Stanford, to say, that the memoir has 
 already grown to a size beyond what was at first con- 
 templated. 
 
 In presenting a summary view of the life and 
 death of this venerable servant of Christ, it is no 
 exaggeration to say, that as a model of pious industry, 
 and perseverance in the duties of the sacred office, 
 he had few superiors. 
 
 As A Man — he was endowed with considerable in- 
 tellectual vigour, and discovered a fertility of inven- 
 tion, a soundness of judgment, a playfulness of fancy, 
 and powers of memory, greatly beyond the ordinary 
 standard of mental developement. 
 
 The urbanity of his general dejwrtment rendered 
 him an agreeable companion. He was mild and 
 affectionate to all; but, at the same time, possessed 
 of the most acute sensibility. This was to him a 
 source of frequent grief; but, under the control of the 
 Holy Spirit, it was doubtless a means of promoting his
 
 320 SUMMARY VIEW. 
 
 humility, and consequent growth in grace. He was 
 as far removed from dogmatic arrogance, as from 
 serviUty ; and an intimate acquaintance of more than 
 twenty years, enables the writer, with confidence, to 
 express the opinion, that the mild dignity of his ha- 
 bitual demeanour, the faithful discharge of the duties 
 of his office, and the manifest sincerity of his heart, 
 constituted, in no inconsiderable degree, the secret of 
 that success, with which, for so many years, he con- 
 tinued to enforce the principles, and exemplify the 
 precepts of our holy religion. 
 
 Naturally formed for laborious and active service 
 in the cause of Christ, he not only undertook, but, by 
 a judicious application of the most appropriate means, 
 he accomplished much. His regard for truth was so 
 scrupulous and exemplary, that he frequently refused 
 his signature, w hen solicited by that means, to patron- 
 ize public objects, with the merits ot which other 
 duties had prevented him from becoming familiar. 
 
 As A Teacher of Youth — Dr. Stanford was 
 eminently (pialified, and employed a poition of his 
 lime with singuhir success. Many, wlio as the 
 ministers of Christ have been " burning and shining 
 lights," and several of our most distinguished citizens 
 received the fu'st rudiments of their education under 
 his direction ; and from its organization, until the 
 close of life, he continued, the useful ami honoured 
 President of the New-York Baptist Education. 
 Society.
 
 SUMMARY VIEW. 321 
 
 As A Christian — it is iiuijossiljle to contemplate 
 the character of Dr. Stanford, without emotions ot' 
 respect and pleasure. His early religious e::pcriciicc 
 was as dcej) and pungent, as his matured principles 
 were eminently regulated by the standard of" evan- 
 gelicL-l purity ; and while he daily Qvinced a growing 
 dissatirffactiou with himself, he struggled manfully 
 towards ihe attainment of universal holiness; and 
 clung to the cross of Jesus Christ as the only hope of 
 the condemned sinner. Though many have shone 
 more brilliantly, and others Iiave ac(juired greater 
 celebrity from their eminence in the Christian graces, 
 yet few men have loved and practised the duties of 
 private devotion, more than Dr. Stanford. With him 
 the motto of the immortal Luther — "Bene orasse est 
 bene studuisse," was a practical maxim. The closet 
 was his home, and devout meditation upon the sacred 
 page the constant employment of his life. 
 
 " Prayer all his business, all his pleasure praise."' 
 
 This is no undistinguishing panegyric, but an un- 
 varnished statement of well authenticated fact. No 
 man could set a higher value upon orthodoxy, but 
 yet he regarded personal religion and daily com- 
 munion with God, as being of paramount importance. 
 From this source of improvement and happiness, no 
 other engagement could divert him. His whole con- 
 duct in this respect seemed to be a commentary upon 
 the saying — that if the twelve apostles lived in the 
 same street with a Christian, he would be injured by
 
 322 SU.MMARY VIEW. 
 
 their visits, if they interrupted his private communion 
 Avith God. His devotional exercises, spiritual and 
 constant, were animated by a spirit kindled from 
 above, and inextinguishable as the fire on the Jewish 
 ahar. 
 
 In the progress of his Christian experience Dr. 
 Stanford cultivated an intimate acquaintance with his 
 own heart, and habituated himself to the duty of bring- 
 ing his actions and their motives to the test of Chris- 
 tian principles ; it is therefore not surprising, that in 
 his diary we find so many passages devoted to self- 
 condemnation. 
 
 The habitual state of liis mind was indeed calm, 
 and we generally find him " strong in the faith, giving 
 glory to God," yet at times he was cast down, and 
 deeply lamented the hidings of God's countenance; 
 but the distressing doubts which assailed him under 
 these trials, though the invention. of an enemy, did 
 but drive him to the throne of grace, that there, as a 
 penitent sinner, he might obtain pardon and et<?rnal 
 life through the blood of the Lamb. 
 
 IJis life was a jiath chequered with alternate joys 
 and sorrow's, of toils and cares; it was a scene of 
 blended light and shade. Few Christians have suf- 
 fered, laboured, or enjoyed more; but under all the 
 vicissitudes which marked his career, he pursued the 
 nndeviating tenour of his way, and in an extraor- 
 dinary degree, accomj)lished the purposes of human 
 existence. 
 
 Wiialever were his own circumstances, he continueil
 
 SUMMARY VIEW. 323 
 
 to the end of life, to evii)ccthc utmost concern fof the 
 welfare of others. His prayers to the throne of mercy 
 were offered not merely for his friends, but even hi^ 
 enemies had an interest in his sujjplications. From 
 the baneful passions of envy and an^er, he was de- 
 livered in no ordinary degree; and it is worthy of 
 I)articular remark, that he was seldom heard to utter 
 a word to the disadvantage of those wiio had injured 
 him. Although his diary abounds with lamentations 
 for his own sins, yet there is not one word of resent- 
 ment against his enemies ; but over the faults of others 
 he spread the mantle of Christian charity, which 
 " covers a multitude of sins." It is probable that 
 there have been but few instances of a more rigid ex- 
 emplilication of the divine rule, " love your enemies, 
 bless them that curse you, and do good to them that 
 hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use and 
 persecute you." 
 
 As THE Minister of Christ — his ap()earance in 
 the pulpit commanded uni\ersal respect. Dr. Stan- 
 ford was a man of middle stature. His mien was 
 dignilied, and iiis countenance expressive of energy, 
 intelligence, and benevolence. His voice, whicii 
 was one of great compass and clearness, not only 
 fdledour most spacious churches, but, like the spirit- 
 »-iirring trumpet, it could at once command and sus- 
 tain the eager attention of an auditory. J^ike the 
 voice of the Baptist crying in the wilderness, " pre- 
 j)are'ye the way of the Lord," he seemed to penetrate
 
 324 SUM3IAIIY VIE^V. 
 
 the heart of every Iiearer; and produced an impres- 
 sion, deeper and more sahitary than the thunders ql' 
 Demosthenes, or the splendid declamation of Cicero. 
 AV hi!e uttering the terrors of the holy law, his deep 
 tones would often startle the impenitent"; but, when 
 announcincf the messaore of niercv, his accents were 
 mild and |)ersuasive. 
 
 His chief preparation for tiie pulpit was earnest and 
 ■persevering prayer, although he made it an almost 
 invariable rule to compose a new sermon for each 
 occasion. He was as far removed from sciiolastic 
 pedantry on the one hand, as from inattention to 
 classical propriety of diction on the other; with him 
 the maxim of Dr. .Tohnson u'as paramount : — " Words 
 ought to be laboured, when they are intended to stand 
 for things," and he therefore " sought to find out ac- 
 ceptable u'ords.'''' While engaged in preaching, he 
 would frequently seize upon some prominent topic or 
 incident, and urge it uj^on the attention of his con- 
 gregation with a pathos, and energy of language 
 which ^e\\ could hear unmoved. His sermons were 
 always evangelical, and replete with tiie treasures of 
 The sacred volume, to a degree which demonstrated 
 his personal conviction of its paramount importance 
 as a guide in duty, aiul tiie only immutable foundation 
 of hope. 
 
 " Here is fiirii footing — all is sea besides." 
 
 In point of native iutelled. Dr. S. is to be regarded 
 n.s occupying an c.\allc»l rank, ulthongh a want of
 
 SUMMARY VIEW. 325 
 
 early culture, and his active employment in the im- 
 mediate duties of life, prevented him from attaining 
 that literary fame which his great industry and strong 
 mind would, under different circumstances, have ena- 
 bled him to acquire. With a retentive memory he 
 possessed a fertile imagination, and both were sanc- 
 tified to the noble purpose of giving force to his public 
 instructions, and aiding the devotion of his hearers. 
 From the deep fountains of a pure theology. Dr. S. 
 brought forth the truth, and not unfrequently enforced 
 it with some striking illustration, borrowed from the 
 familiar incidents of life, and produced an impression 
 upon the minds of his hearers, to which the most 
 elaborate argument would have proved unequal. His 
 figures were always natural, scriptural, and generally- 
 felicitous, and it is therefore not surprising that their 
 effect was happy and permanent.* The writer cannot 
 forget passages of this description, from sermons 
 preached twenty years since ; and thousands who 
 heard Dr. S. before the writer was born, remember, 
 with pleasure, his pertinent and pious remarks. 
 
 As a preacher, Dr. S. is to be contemplated in the 
 light of a man, declaring to others, truths, the un- 
 speakable importance of which he deeply realized. 
 His preaching was something more than studied 
 declamation ; and in the flowing stream of his thoughts, 
 
 • For a beautiful illustration of his peculiarly happy use of a figurative 
 style, the reader is referred to the interesting letter from the Rev. Spencer 
 IT. Cone, with which this memoir cloees. 
 
 28
 
 326 SUMMARY VIEW. 
 
 he never lost sight of those humhliiig doctrines which 
 stand identified with the deep and everlasting interest 
 of the immortal soul. Hence, we never find him w'an- 
 dering into the mazes of doubtful speculation, but 
 himself intrenched within the limits of a revealed 
 theology, he laboured to guard his hearers from over- 
 leaping those barriers by which heaven has bounded 
 the researches of the liuraan intellect. 
 
 ■• He mix'd not faith with fable, but he trod 
 Right onward, cautious in tlie wa^ys of God! 
 Nor did lie dare to launch on seas nnknow n, 
 In search of truths, by some advent'rers shown, 
 But his own compass us"d, and kept a course his own."' 
 
 Dr. S. was not of the number of those who darken 
 counsel by words without knowledge ; but in great 
 plainness, and with godly sincerity, his aim was, to 
 make every sermon tell upon the consciences of his 
 hearers. The exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the 
 infinite value of the atonement, through the blood of 
 (^hrist, were among his favourite topics. The amaz- 
 ing love of the Saviour — that love, which reaches 
 from 
 
 " The living throne, the sapphire blaze, 
 Where angels trcndilo as they gaze," 
 
 was tiiC soul of his preaching. Like a man desiruua 
 of showing a very beautiful picture, he placed himself 
 out of sight, behind the cross, while endeavouring to 
 exhibit the dying Saviour to the view of tlio pcoj)U\ 
 Having no other ground of hope for hinib-clf. hr
 
 SUMMARY VIEW. 327 
 
 laboured to exhibit Emanuel, '• God manifest in the 
 Jicsh,''^ as the only hope of a ruined world; and as 
 Christ was the beginning and the end of all his 
 brightest anticipations, so Christ was the Alpha and 
 Omega of all his preaching. To the cross alone did 
 he fly for safety ; and to the cross, as the only refuge, 
 did he direct the sinner. For this great work every 
 faculty of his mind was brought into requisition — the 
 prayers of the closet — the labours of the study — read- 
 ing and conversation — providences adverse or ])ros- 
 pcrous — every event, and every object within the 
 sphere of his observation, was made subservient in 
 the great work of persuading men to be reconciled 
 to God. So intent was he upon promoting the 
 spiritual improvement of others, that he seemed 
 utterly regardless of the toil and sacrifice by which it 
 was to be accomplished. He could say — 
 
 " In serving others. I am myself consumed."' 
 
 It was an interesting trait in his preaching, that his 
 tc.vt and sermon were invariably and peculiarly 
 adapted to the occasion — usually brief — always point- 
 ed and impressive. He knew iiow at once to reach, 
 and to affect the human heart. We can hazard 
 nothing, in applying to him the encomium of the poet : 
 
 " Extensive sense he into compass drew, 
 
 Said what was just, and always something new." 
 
 Although as a man he highly valued the approbation 
 of all, yet as a preacher he was not covetous of popu-
 
 3^ SUMMARY VIEW. 
 
 larity, in the common accieptation of the term. He 
 sought rather to be useful than entertaining. Nor 
 did he, though his natural temperament greatly pre- 
 disposed him to this, 
 
 '' Court a grin when he should woo a soul." 
 
 Dr. Stanford was indeed an immoveable cham- 
 pion of the truth. Of Baxter it is said, that he dis- 
 covered the same intrepidity when he reproved Crom- 
 well, and expostulated with Charles II. as when ho 
 preached to a congregation of mechanics; and great 
 injury would be done to the memory of Dr. Stanford, 
 if we should omit to state the fact, that he was indeed 
 remarkable for speaking the plainest truths on every 
 occasion, and to persons in every condition in life- 
 Fearless of consequences in the discharge of duty, lie 
 seemed to be animated with the spirit of Luther, when 
 he said: — " Mallem cum Christo mere, qunm rcgnnre 
 Cfesare." I would rather die with Christ, than reign 
 with Caesar. No one could hear him and not feel that 
 he was indeed an honest man, speaking under the 
 consciousness of a momentous responsibility, and in- 
 tent only upon the salvation of his hearers.* He was 
 
 * The Rev. Samuel Pcarcc, while on a journey in the north of Eng- 
 land, arrived in the town of , on a Wednesday evening, and intinircd 
 
 of his host wliere he could go to hear a good sermon. Several places 
 were mentioned. " Well," said Mr. P. " de.scrihe the ministers who 
 
 occupy these several pulpits, and I will make a selection." " Mr. ," 
 
 said his host, " is a celebrated orator — he is much admired for his great 
 eloquence." " And what," said Mr. P. is the reputation of the next 
 
 1
 
 SUMMARY VIEW. 329 
 
 " Simple, grave, sincere; 
 In doctrine uncorrnpt: in language plain, 
 And plain in manner: decent, solemn, chaste, 
 And natural in gesture; mucii imprcss'd 
 Himself, as conscious ofhis awful charge. 
 And auxious mainly tliat the flock he fed 
 Might feel it too : affectionate in look 
 And tender in address, as well became 
 A messenger of grace to guilty man." 
 
 IIis SuccKss — As a most affectionate, fervent, 
 and successful minister of Christ, his diary confirms 
 the opinion, that he had few superiors. Owing to the 
 |)cculiar nature of his engagements, the results of his 
 labour in the salvation of souls, were never brought 
 out to public view. His efforts were chiefly limited 
 to institutions where the organization of churches was 
 inadmissible, and where, consequently, the amount of 
 his usefulness could not become a matter of public 
 observation ; but it is confidently believed, that in the 
 number of souls actually converted to God through 
 his instrumentality, lie would not suffer from a com- 
 
 preacher ?" " Why, as to Mr. , I can scarcely tell what to say. He 
 
 is a plain, but all the people acknowledge that lie is a good man ; he 
 throws liimself entirely into tlie back ground by his great diflidence, and 
 is for ever preaching something about Christ, and urging men to repent 
 and believe; and you know, Sir, that is not the way to be very popular." 
 " That," said Mr. Pearce, " is the man for me ; let ue go and hear him." 
 O that mankind could realize the importance of the sentiment which this 
 preference of the amiable and pious Mr. Pearce is calculated to teach. 
 Surely the embellisinnents of rhetoric were never intended to be the food 
 of the mind. Flowers may please, and gems may dazzle, but no man 
 can feed on either. It is the bread, the bread of life; and that alone, 
 whjclj God has ordained as the spiritual aliment of the immortal soul, 
 
 38*
 
 330 SUMMARY VIEW. 
 
 parison with those who rank among our most nseful 
 pastors. " In every work that he began in the ser- 
 vice of tlie house of God, and in the law, and in the 
 commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all 
 his heart, and prospered." 
 
 It was not in the pulpit only, that he resolved " to 
 know nothbig among men, save Jems Christ and him 
 crucified;''^ he acted upon the same principle in every 
 place, and under all circumstances. His pious resolu- 
 tion, mentioned in a former part of this memoir, is 
 fresh in the recollection of the reader. Though no 
 man was better qualified to add to the innocent j)lca- 
 sures of the social circle, by the good natured wit in 
 which he abounded, yet he solemnly covenanted with 
 God, that he would lose none of his precious time I»y 
 formal visits, and that wherever he went, he would 
 appear only as a minister. As such, therefore, he 
 was universally recognised and honoured. He 
 
 " Paid no niomont but in pnrcliase of its worth." 
 
 Another characteristic of Dr. S. which it woidd be 
 injustice not lo record, is, that, to surprising industry, 
 he added all the advantages of the most uniform sys- 
 tem and order throughout every department of bis 
 private and public life. With him it was literally 
 true, that " tlicre was a place for every thing, and 
 every thing was in its place." Few men spent mort- 
 hours in the study, and no man's study presented a 
 greater degree of neatness and order in its arrang(;- 
 ment.
 
 SUMMARY VIEW. 331 
 
 His time was divided into appropriate seasons ibr 
 devotion and labour ; and every person accustomed 
 to visit him, will concur in tlic declaration, that )uu 
 could never find Dr. Stanford uncuij)loyed. AVhen, 
 owing to age and infirmity, he conld no longer ascend 
 tiie pulpit, he devoted his remaining strength to the 
 moral interests of his fellow-creatures, by speaking in 
 frequent paragrajihs through the medium of the press, 
 and by epistolary communications. " An emperor,'" 
 said A'cspasian, " should die standing ;" and of our 
 Acnerable friend it may be said, that with a more than 
 lloman energy, he persevered in the duties of his 
 station, until he fell in death, covered w illi the honours 
 of a long and well-sj)ent life. 
 
 Another conspicuous trait in the character of Dr. 
 S. was his freedom from that exclusiveness and bigotry 
 which, while it abridges the personal enjoyment, 
 greatly mars the uscfidness of the individual who is 
 Tinder its influence, lie possessed a heart filled with 
 universal benevolence — he was a lover of ail good 
 men, although they did not follow him. 
 
 jiesides his labours as a chaplain, ho was j)rc- 
 cminently a promoter of the charities of the age. 
 His generosity in relieving the wants of the poor, ami 
 ))iecting the numerous applications of the religious 
 institutions of the day, v.as bounded only by the 
 amount of his pecuniary ability. Ii was his iiivaiia- 
 ble practice to devote a certain part of his yearly in- 
 come, to benevolent purposes; and in the distrib^ition 
 vf his annual benefactions, particular reference was
 
 332 SUMMARY VIEW. 
 
 had to those institutions and cases, that were upon a 
 careful examination found to be the most deserving. 
 
 Throughout this populous and extended city, we 
 perceive, on every side, the traces of his energetic 
 benevolence. His untiring solicitude to promote the 
 morals, and the happiness of his fellow-creatures, 
 stands inscribed in the history, and his name is enrolled 
 amongst the officers of nearly every Christian and 
 charitable institution of the city. The sanctuaries of 
 our holy religion, the Aims-House, Schools, Hos- 
 pitals, and Jails ; Bible, Tract, Missionary, Temper- 
 ance, and Sunday School Societies, exhibit the mo- 
 numents of his fervent piety and zeal. 
 
 It is an interesting fact, that this venerable servant 
 of Christ, was probably, not only the first systematic 
 distributer of religious tracts in the city of New- York, 
 but that his labours in this noble cause commenced 
 nineteen years prior to the formation of the London 
 TiiACT Society. His first tract was published and 
 gratuitously distributed more ihB.n fifty-five years ago. 
 To the piety and zeal of Dr. Stanford we may ascribe 
 the origin of several benevolent institutions, which 
 now adorn and bless our city ; amongst which, the 
 New- York House of Refuge, and the New- York 
 Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf 
 AND Dumb, are not the least important. 
 
 As A Theological Writer — he was not in- 
 active, yet he seems to have been more anxious, by 
 a life devoted to the public, to engrave his memory
 
 SUMMARY vir.w. 333 
 
 upon the grateful hearts of the destitute poor, than 
 by the pursuits of learning, to inscribe his memorial 
 upon the pages of literary fame. But even in this 
 department he succeeded to a degree truly astonish- 
 ing, if we take into view the multij)licify of his other 
 duties. The works, on various theological subjects, 
 published by Dr. Stanford, amount to more than 
 THRKE THOUSAND PAGES, or about ten octavo volumes. 
 The re-publication of several of these in this country 
 and in Europe, is the best comment upon their adap- 
 tation to general ust fulness. 
 
 History informs us that the youthful Hannibal was 
 led to the ultar of Hamilcar, and made to swear that 
 he would never beat peace with the Roman republic; 
 and, like him, though in a better cause, our departed 
 friend, at an early period of life, vowed hostility to 
 the powers of darkness; a pledge which he faithfully 
 redeemed. His love to God, and concern for the 
 souls of men, were early developed, and continued 
 pure, fervent, and increasing, up to the hour when 
 the light of eternity burst upon his enraptured vision, 
 and discovered to him the victor's crown beyond the 
 valley of death. 
 
 The last five months of his life were spent chiefly 
 in his study, and when, like the celebrated Gesner, 
 he found his final hour approaching, he gave orders 
 to prepare the room adjoining his study, that he 
 might meet death near the place in which he had 
 spent so many happy hours. In this solemn place, 
 the writer frequently conversed with him on the sub-
 
 334 SUMMARY VIEW. 
 
 ject of liis expected change. H6 experienced no 
 raptures in prospect of that glory to which he was 
 tending; but he was uniforn)ly cahn, and as his 
 minutes fled, his Christian graces brightened, and his 
 faith in the atonement of Christ seemed to acquire 
 increased strength. " My hope, my only hope, my 
 unshaken hope," said he on one occasion, *' is fixed 
 upon the eternal rock, Christ Jesus." All who visited 
 him in his last days, must have felt, that 
 
 " The chamber where the good man meets his fate. 
 Is privileged bsyond the common walk 
 Of virtuous hfe, quite in the verge of heaven.'' 
 
 From his faithful housekeeper we learn, that during 
 the day which preceded his death, (Jan. 13th, 1834,) 
 he was as well as usual, and employed himself in 
 writing letters, and receiving the visits of his Christian 
 friends. At nine o'clock in the evening, he convened 
 his household around the beloved family altar, and 
 there, for the last time, poured out his soul in prayer, 
 and commended them to the grace of God. After 
 this he retired to rest — it was his last night. About 
 twelve o'clock, the attendant who slept iA the same 
 room, discovered symptoms of uneasiness, and on 
 approaching the bed with a light, was much alarmed 
 at his altered ajipcarauce, and immediately sum- 
 moned the housekecj>er, whose jjractised eye at once 
 discovered the stamp of death upon his countenance. 
 ^Medical aid was soon obtained — but the toils of the 
 labourer were en led — the conflict with the prince of
 
 SUMMARY VIEW. 335 
 
 darkness was past — the persecutions and sorrows of 
 tlie world disturbed him as little as tlic iiiidniglit 
 storm that swept over his peacefid habitation — lie 
 was still — he slept — he was at rest. 
 
 lie fell not as the opening flower before the sweep- 
 ina" stroke of the mower, but, like a shock of corn 
 fidly ripe, he was gathered in his season. As his lifo 
 was one of unaffected piety, of practical goodness, 
 and inexhaustible benevolence, so he died, fidl of 
 years and full of honours, revered and lamented by 
 ■all who enjoyed the happiness of his acquaintance. 
 " IjcI mc die ike death of the righteous, and ht v\y last 
 nil bi. lilic his'' — For 
 
 ■' Sure the last end of the good man is peace. 
 Night dews fail not more gently on the ground,. 
 Nor weary worn-out winds expire so soft. 
 
 By unperceived degrees he wears away. 
 Yet like the sun, seems larger at his ssetling: 
 High in his faith and hopes, look how he stretches 
 After tjie prize in view." 
 
 '^ And 1 heard a voice from heaven, saying unto 7nc. 
 JVrite, Blessed arc the dead which die in the Lord from 
 henceforth : Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest 
 from their labours; and their u-orhs do follow thnn.''
 
 336 LETTER FROM REV. SPENCER H. CONE. 
 
 We exceedingly regret that the following interest- 
 ing letter from the Rev. Spencer If. Cone, was re- 
 ceived at too late a period to be inserted in its proper 
 place in the volume, and we are therefore compelled 
 to ffive it at the close. 
 
 " New-York, July 28th, 1835. 
 
 " DEAR BROTHER, 
 
 " I find, upon referring to the record, that the Rev. 
 John Stanford united with the Oliver-street Baptist 
 Church, June 30th, 1S17, and was distnissed, as we 
 l)elieve, to unite with the Church triumphant, Janu- 
 ary 14th, 1834. During the last twelve years of his 
 life, I had the pleasure of being intimately acquainted 
 with him, and found him ever a wise counsellor and 
 faithful friend. It is not necessary that I should de- 
 tail the various points of character which distinguished 
 him as a scholar, a Christian, and a preacher ; this 
 iias been done in the memoir you are about to pre- 
 sent to the public. But you will allow me to give a 
 brief sketch of a single sermon, and the last I had the 
 privilege of hearing him preach in Oliver-street. 
 The scripture he read upon the occasion, was John 
 xi. 1 — 44. His introduction consisted of a parallel 
 drawn l)etween the death and resurrection of Lazarus, 
 and a siimer dead in trespasses and sins, and raised to 
 newness of life by the power of God. The ingenuity, 
 vivacity, brevity, and variety of comparison employed, 
 rendered the exordium unusually interesting. The 
 preacher then, with characteristic abruptness, paused 
 and exclaimed, ' O that I had the skill of a paiidcr! 
 'JMie chapter I have read, furnishes ample materials 
 for an angel's brush! Well, I will try! And with a 
 palette whiter than ivory, with colours purely scrip- 
 tiiral, deeply tinged with the blood of the Lamb, and 
 with the pencil of truth, I uill paint I'oi'R FAMILY 
 yiCTl'RL-S. God grant that I may so paint (hem, that
 
 LETTER FROM REV. SPENCER H. CONE. 337 
 
 they may be hung up in the secret chamber of your 
 hearts for ever ! 
 
 " * 3Iy first picture shall be, 
 
 " ' I. The happy family! Lazarus, and Martha, 
 and Mary, the little family at Bethany, whojn Jesus 
 loved. This was the secret of their domestic felicity. 
 The love of God was shed abroad in their hearts, by 
 the Holy Ghost given unto them. They dwelt in love, 
 and dwelt in God ; their happiness was genuine and 
 lasting; it commenced on earth, to be perfected and 
 perpetuated in heaven. 
 
 " ' But we live in a changing world ! Even those 
 whom God loves, shall have tribulation! therefore my 
 second picture must exhibit, 
 
 "'II. The anxious faiinly ! Lazarus is sick! 
 Jesus is at a distance. Medicines appear to afford 
 but little relief. The sisters tremble at the thought 
 of being left alone in an unfriendly world, without 
 father, mother, or brother ! Mary bends over his 
 sick bed, with all her quiet, deei)-toned, persevering 
 affection ! Martha, with no less love, is busied about 
 many things ; inquiring after some new specific, or 
 making something to allay the feverish thirst. Must 
 he be taken away from us? Send a messenger to the 
 Master, and just lot him say, ' Lord, he whom thou 
 lovest is siclc.^ But the messenger does not arrive in 
 time to save him ! No answer is received ! the stroke 
 anticipated with such fearful anxiety, falls ; and my 
 third picture, hung in black, presents, 
 
 " ' HI. The hcrtuvcd family ! l-azarns is dead! 
 The only brother, the stay of the family, who provides 
 for our daily wants, led in worship, comtbrtcd, and 
 counselled us; he is taken away ! Oh! ^ if the Lord 
 had been here, our brother had not diedT But it is all 
 over now; the family circle is broken up, and we 
 shall never meet again, till the resurrection at the 
 last day. 
 
 " ' Daughters of Jerusalem, wipe away your tears 1 
 29
 
 338 LETTER FROM REV. SPENCER H. CONE. 
 
 Sorrow may endure for a night, but joy comethin the 
 morning! My fourtli picture shall display to your 
 believing eyes and your rejoicing hearts, 
 
 "'IV. The grateful family ! Behold! our friend 
 Lazarus is not dead — he sleepeth. Jesus is not far 
 off, but nigh at hand, a present help in time of trouble. 
 He stands at the grave, and cries with a loud voice, 
 ' Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came 
 forth, bound hand ami foot with grave-clothes : and his 
 face was bound about loiih a jiap/cin. Jesus saith unto 
 them, Loose him, and let him go.'' He is restored to 
 the embrace of his fond sisters; the family circle is 
 again complete ; and while they gaze with wonder, 
 love, and joy, upon Lazarus raised from the dead, 
 their fidl hearts overflow with gratitude to the author 
 of all their mercies, and their united cry is, Let God 
 be glorified /' 
 
 " Thus have I given an imperfect and hasty outline 
 of a sermon strongly marked with pidpit talent; ricii 
 in doctrinal^ exp(;rimental, and practical truth; the 
 thoughts so ha|)pily arranged, and so forcibly express- 
 ed, that iho four funiili/ pictures can never be obliterat- 
 ed from my mind ' while men)ory holds her seat.' 
 
 " The last illness of Brother Stanford, as you 
 know, was protracted and painful in the extreme. It 
 was my custom to visit him at least once a week, and 
 1 can bear testimony, not only to his patient suffering, 
 !)ut to Wis cheerful piety. His waking hours were uni- 
 formly employed in r(,'a(ling, writing, meditation, and 
 prayer; and so strong was his sense of duty, and the 
 iiabit of industry, that he would brace up his system 
 to his accustomed work, under a complication of 
 •iiseases and pains, that would have palsied the energy 
 of ordinary minds. Two days before his death, I 
 spent with him a most profi(al>l(! hour. He was sit- 
 ting up — the IJible was open before him, at the 14th 
 rha|)ter of Job. ' 1 am soon going the way of all the 
 eartli,' said he ; ' I have no ccstacics, but am calm —
 
 LETTER FROM REV. SPENCER H. CONE. 330 
 
 no fear of death — my hope is firm — I know in whom 
 I have helieved — Christ is my all, and in all — he will 
 never leave me nor forsake me. This 14th of Job 
 iias been a great comfort to me all day! Let me 
 tell you my thoughts upon it. The Lord made me; 
 he selected my parents and my country ; he ordered 
 the time when, and the place where, 1 should be born ; 
 I had no hand in it; and he has fixed the bounds of 
 my habitation that 1 cannot pass. All this is well. 
 Just so, he fixed the period of my second birth; re- 
 deemed by the blood of Christ, and called out of 
 darkness into marvellous light by the power of his 
 spirit, he has been working in me, for many years, to 
 will and to do of his good pleasure, and 1 know he will 
 have a desire to the work of his hands. lie will ap- 
 j)oint a set time, and remember me; he will call, I 
 cannot tell how soon; that is no business of mine; 
 but blessed be his name, he will call, and I will an- 
 swer him, and in the exercise of Aiith, and love, and 
 patience, and hope, I will cheerfully wait all the days 
 of my appointed time, till my change come.' 
 
 '• These were among the last words of John Stan- 
 ford — a man of God. Very pleasant and edifying- 
 have his words often been to me, and it is my fer- 
 vent prayer, that the memoir of his life, labours, and 
 death, may prove a lasting blessing to the cause and 
 kingdom of our common Lord. 
 
 " Affectionately your brother, 
 
 " SPENCER 11. CONE, 
 " Pastor of Olirer-street Church. 
 
 '' Rev. C. G. SoM.MERs, 
 '• New-Yorky
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 29*
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 To record the history and virtues of the departed, 
 is a duty which every generation owes to posterity, 
 and is the appropriate design of biography. In the 
 subjoined Appendix, we do not indeed profess fully 
 to supply this important desideratum ; yet we feel 
 satisfied, that the present attempt to give greater 
 publicity to the private and public character of three 
 eminently devoted and useful ministers of Christ, 
 will receive the approbation of the denomination by 
 whom, as n)embers, they were universally beloved 
 and esteemed. 
 
 Eminent men, in all ages, have generally been 
 indebted for the splendour of their career, to the 
 fortuitous advantages of birth and fortune; but, it is 
 gratifying to contemplate amongst the most successful 
 in every department of human life, the names of 
 those who have emerged from obscurity, unaided 
 either by wealth or an illustrious ancestry, and have 
 risen to eminence by the force of native mental 
 energy, the power of moral principle, and the blessing 
 of God. In the history of such worthies, we may 
 read Jehovah's own commentary upon the words of 
 the Apostle Paul — " Not many miglilij, not mmvj nohlc, 
 are called; hut God hath chosen the foolish things of 
 the iporld, that no man should glorij in his presencey 
 To no other class of men are these remarks more 
 applicable, than to the early Baptist ministers of this
 
 344 PREFACE. 
 
 country, and to thousands in the same denomination, 
 who have subsequently lived and died as champions 
 of the cross. 
 
 From the days of Roger Williams, the American 
 Baptists have been respectable, not only for their 
 number, and the commendable integrity with which 
 they have explained and practised the sacred injunc- 
 tions of the inspired volume; but, in numerous in- 
 stances, have they been men of profound literary 
 acquirements ; and, in general, they have every where 
 proved themselves to be men of sense. As the minis- 
 ters of Christ, not a few of them have been equally 
 estimable, for the orthodoxy of their creed, the extent 
 of their knowledge, and the heavenly spirit of their 
 unaffected piety. 
 
 The memoirs of Williams and Baldwin have before 
 appeared, in the American Baptist 3Iagazine, but 
 the biography of Dr. Fiirman was prej)ared for the 
 Appendix of the present volume. These Christian 
 jncmorials are presented to the public at this time, 
 not merely as a just tribute to the memory of three 
 illustrious cxani|)lcs of self-taught and heaven directed 
 men — of men whose zeal and ability in asserting and 
 defending the great truths of religion, were equally 
 conspicuous; but as a commendation to the age and 
 country in which tlujy lived, and in which they were 
 assisted by their own exertions, and the blessing of 
 heaven, to overcome obstacles and discouragements, 
 that nothing but perseverance in toil, and faith \n 
 Cod, could have enabled them to surmount.
 
 MEMOIR 
 
 REV. JOHN WILLIAMS. 
 
 " I would express him simple, grave, sincere, 
 In doctrine uiicorru[)t; iu language plain, 
 And plain in manner; decent, solenni, chaste. 
 And natural in gesture; nuioh impress'd 
 Himself, as conscious of his awful charge. 
 And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds 
 May feel it too; atlectionate in look. 
 And tender in address, as well hecouies 
 A messenger of grace to guilty men. 
 Behold the picture ! — Is it like ? — " 
 
 Cowpcr, 
 
 The month of May last,* witnessed tlie sudden departure 
 of the Rev. John WilliaiMS, senior pastor of the Baptist 
 Church in Oliver-street, New-York. He was a man of 
 whose character and history it might well he said, n the 
 hrief and beautiful simplicity of inspiration — " Ifc 7cas a 
 good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith ; and 
 much people teas added unto the Lord.^'' Meek, patient, 
 and zealous, he laboured long and successfidly, and, when 
 unexpectedly removed from the sorrows and warfare of the 
 Church militant on earth, into the licfht and gladness of the 
 Church triumphant above, he left behind him a loved and a 
 lamented name; and good men of all denominations mourned 
 at his death as for a father and leader in Israel. Distin- 
 guished for quiet usefulness, he was no less remarkable for 
 his unpretending modesty ; and such was the reserve which 
 he always maintained on the subject of his own feelings and 
 history, that with much dilTicidty were gathered the materials 
 for the scanty notice of his life which follows. 
 
 * May, 1S25.
 
 346 
 
 MEMOIR OF TIIK RET. JOHN WILLIAMS. 
 
 John Williams was born in Carnarvonshire, Wales, on the 
 8th day of March, (old style) 1767. The name of his father 
 was JVilliam Roberts, from which, according to the ancient 
 custom still retained in some parts of the Principality, of 
 deriving the surname of the children from the Christian name 
 of the father, he took the name of Williams. The farm 
 Plasllecheiddior on which he was born, had for many genera- 
 tions been the homestead of the family, a race of hardy and 
 respectable farmers. At an early age, Mr. W. was removed 
 to the house of his maternal grand-father, who resided at the 
 distance of a few miles, and with whom he past the years of 
 his boyhood. The family into which he was thus brought, 
 as well as that of his father, were from education and habit 
 warmly attached to the Established Church, and a regular 
 attendance at the parish church,* was one of the first lessons 
 of his childhood. Being from his lameness unfitted for those 
 agricultural htbours which had been the pursuit of his fathers, 
 and would else have been his choice, it was desired by his 
 
 * The pulpit of this church was, at this period, filled by a man of sin- 
 gular character. At a time when the evaii<^eheal party in the Church of 
 England was as yet weak and despised, tliis man, IVoni the strain of his 
 preaching, was considered as reseuibliug them. But to this comparative 
 purit}' of sentiment, he added a shameless depravity of conduct; and the 
 high Churchmen were not more disgusted with the purity of his doctrine, 
 tlian were the jiious with the irregulaiity of his practice. In the pulpit, 
 he was a powerful and zealous preacher; in private life, a drunkard, a 
 gambler, and a bully. When reproved for his inconsistencies, his usna^ 
 reply was, " Do as I say, and nut us I do;" and it became a proverbial 
 expression among liis rustic parishioners; " When in the pidpit h© 
 preached .so well, 'twas a pity he should ever leave it; when out of it, he 
 lived so ill, 'twas a pity he should ever enter it." This singular being" 
 was a frecjucnt visitor at the house of Mr. W.'s grand-father, and Mr. 
 Williams often, at an early age, felt no little surprise at seeing his pastor 
 coine up to the door reeling from the sports of the cock-pit, (for cock- 
 fighting was one of his favouiite amusements,) and bearing on his face 
 tlie marks of bruises received in some drunken fray. It seems hardly 
 credible that such a man should be [X'rmitted to minister in any church; 
 but those ac(]naint('d with Wales, as that country was not fifty years 
 since, know full well that siu-h depravity of conduct in a clergyman was 
 hut too common. The chief singularity of the case was, that without 
 any motives of interest, he had adopted senliments so opposite to his own 
 conduct, and so unpopular among his clerical brethren. Impurity of 
 practice generally leads to heresy of doctrine ; he was remarkable for 
 Having deserted the opinions without abandoning the practice of those 
 abandoned and dissolute clergy who disgraced the retired curacies of the 
 Principality.
 
 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN WILLIAMS, 347 
 
 father, that he should receive a classical education, wiiich 
 might fit him to enter the ministry of the Episcopal Church. 
 But even at this early age, was displayed that independence 
 of character, that modest fear of becoming burdensome to 
 others, which so strongly marked the whole course of his 
 after life. Unwilling to remain dependent for support upon 
 his family during the long period which might elapse ere he 
 should, in some humble curacy, find the reward of his studies, 
 he declined the proposal, and preferred to acquire a trade, 
 by which his industry might meet an earlier reward. To a 
 trade he accordingly applied himself, and for this purpose 
 went to reside in the county town of Carnarvon. But he 
 had not long been em[)loyed in tliis pursuit, before an event 
 occurred which changed the whole current of his thoughts, 
 and gave a new colouring to his life. Tlie manner in which 
 he first was brought to attend the ministry of the Dissenters 
 is now unknown. It was, however, under a sermon preached 
 by David Morris, a devoted minister of the Wbitfieldites, or 
 Calvinistic Methodists, that his mind first found ease from 
 its burdens. At this period, also, he was accustomed to say, 
 that he derived the greatest encouragement and benefit from 
 a Welsh translation of the " Come and Welcome to Jesus 
 Christ," a production of that splendid, though untutored 
 genius, John Bunyan. It was thus, that the writings of one, 
 scarce master of the refinements of his own language, were, 
 under God, productive of a strong eflect long after the death 
 of their author, and in a language to him entirely unknown. 
 Little imagining that it should even reach the mountains of 
 Wales, Bunyan, in the spirit of faith, had cast liis work as 
 " bread upon the waters," and after many days it was " found 
 again," and became food and nourishment to one whom God 
 had designed for nuich usefulness. It may well be supposed, 
 that Mr. W. always retained for the works of this author a 
 grateful partiality. lie had about comjjleted the nineteenth 
 year of his age when he united with the Independent Church 
 in the neighbourhood, which was under the care of the Rev. 
 Dr. Lewis, a man who, perhaps, stood at the head of his 
 denomination in Wales, distinguished alike for solid judgmejit 
 and profound scholarship. Under his ()atronage, not long 
 after his union with the Church, Mv. W. began his pulpit 
 ministrations. Beloved for the gentleness of his manners 
 and the pure ardour of his piety, he was considered as ex-
 
 348 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN WILLIAMS. 
 
 hibiting the promise of great future usefulness. Possessed 
 of the affection and esteem of his pastor and fellow-members, 
 he was no doubt happy ; but truth was to him yet dearer 
 than earthly friendships. His Bible was now his library. 
 He studied it intently and candidly; and, ere long, doubts 
 began to insinuate themselves of the propriety of infant 
 sprinkling. Without, however, revealing to his pastor the 
 workings of his mind, he one day inquired of Dr. Lewis the 
 meaning of the passage, " Buried with him in haptismy 
 The repl}', which, as coming from a man of intellect and 
 learning, sunk deep into the mind of the youthful Christian 
 was, " 1 really think the Baptists have, in the interpretation 
 of that text, the advantage over us." His doubts could not 
 long be concealed, and Dr. Lewis laboured long and earn- 
 estly, but in vain, by conversation and the loan of Pa'dobaptist 
 writings, to remove the scruples which he had unwittingly 
 encouraged. Their friendly discussions were frequently 
 prolonged long after midnight; but the modest conclusion 
 with which Williams generally summed up the amicable de- 
 bate, was, " Had I, Doctor, your talents and your learning, 
 I could make more of my side of the question than you can 
 make of yours." 
 
 Mr. W. had received from heaven a modest independence 
 both in thought and action, which never permitted him to 
 evade his duty ; and he was endued, alike, with strength of 
 intellect to perceive, and decision of character to follow the 
 truth, lead him where it might. The Pttdobaptist authors 
 which Dr. Lewis lent in abundance for his perusal, were 
 read and tested by the Bible. They failed to convince him ; 
 and study, reflection, and prayer, brought him at the age of 
 twenty-one, to the ba[)tismal waters: and he became by 
 immersion, a meinber of the Horeb Baptist Church at Garn. 
 The discussion which had terminated in his separation from 
 the church of Dr. Lewis, never weakened the esteem which 
 each felt for the other ; and to the close of his life, Mr. W. 
 continued to speak of his former pastor with a warmth of 
 alVection which time ctnild not (lucnch, and distance could 
 not lessen. Mr, W. had not long been united with the Horeb 
 Church, before he became their minister. They knew his 
 worth, and he reigned in their hearts. It was said of l)is 
 people, that when a stranger occasioniilly ministered among 
 ihem, they never were satisfied ; and great as the attraction
 
 MEMOIR or TllK UEV. JOHN WILLIAMS. 349 
 
 of novelty must ever be, none could with them be compared 
 to their stated preacher. Before being fixed over this little 
 flock, he had been advised by some of his friends to enter 
 the Bristol Baptist Academy. In afterlife, he often lamented 
 his refusal, but the reasons of it do honour to his memory. 
 His early ministrations had produced a pain in his breast, 
 which he regarded as the forerunner of ajiproaching con- 
 sumption. Believing that the years which remained to him 
 weie but few, he was unwilling to waste a moment in pre- 
 paration, and accordingly threw himself in the strength of 
 faith, with all his imperfections of education upon him, into 
 the work of the gospel ministr}'. With a perseverance the 
 most devoted, and a patience the most untiring, he travelled 
 and laboured in season and out of season. It was, perhaps, 
 the very energy with which he laboured, as in the expectation 
 of death, that was the means of prolonging his life. The 
 Horeb Church was composed of several branches, which, 
 though forming but one body, met at difl'erent places of wor- 
 ship. Mr. Williams travelled extensively through North 
 and South Wales, and collected funds for the building of 
 two meeting bouses for his aflectionate people. What their 
 number at his coming among them was, we are unable to 
 ascertain ; but from Rippon's Baptist Register, we find that 
 in October, 1794, the members amounted to one hundred 
 and forty. By means of these journeyings, he became 
 generally known and respected throughout Wales. He was 
 a friend and fellow-traveller of the celebrated and apostolic 
 Christmas Evans, with whom he continued an occasional 
 correspondence to the close of life. 
 
 It may appear strange that he could willingly leave a fiock 
 of whose affections he was so entirely possessed, and who 
 earnestly opposed his intentions; but his motives were de- 
 serving of the liighest praise. The tide of emigration was 
 at this period fast pouring from the shores of Britain into 
 these yet infant States. Many of the mountaineers of Wales, 
 oppressed by the grinding weight of public distress, and per- 
 haps not uninthienced by the revolutionary principles, the 
 seeds of which were then sown throughout Europe, were 
 abandoning their ancient homes for the comforts of what had 
 been painted to them as a foreign paradise. Many of them 
 were entirely unacquainted witli the English language. A 
 hope of being useful to these scattered sheep, a desire that 
 
 30
 
 350 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHl^f WlLLIAlrfS. 
 
 to their settlement on a foreign shore, they should carry with 
 them the gospel of their fathers in the language of their 
 fathers — this hope and this desire, together with other mo- 
 tives, which, were they published, would throw a strong light 
 on the modest reserve and independence of his character, 
 brought him as an emigrant to these United States. He tore 
 himself from a fond and a mourning people, and following 
 what he believed the call of God, came forth from the land 
 of his fathers like Abraham, knowing not whither he went. 
 His knowledge of the English language was but small indeed ; 
 and although when a boy he had been instructed in the 
 grammar of it, his teacher was himself too ignorant to afford 
 much assistance to his pupil. On the 25th of July, 1795, he 
 landed at New-York, bearing warm recommendations from 
 his church and friends in Wales, and among others, from his 
 former pastor, the Rev. Dr. Lewis. A younger brother ac- 
 companied Mr. W. Within a fortnight after their arrival in 
 the country, this brother died most suddenly at Schuyler's 
 Mines, near Newark, New-Jersey. Mr. Williams, who was 
 then at New-York, was informed of the distressing event, 
 and immediately set out travelling on foot to the place. The 
 exertion of the journey, added to the suddenness of the blow, 
 produced a violent fever, in which the mind was scarcely less 
 agitated than the body. He had left his native soil, his 
 family, and his friends, to find in a foreign land, and among 
 a people of strange language, a grave for the companion of 
 his voyage, a beloved brother. He began to doubt if he had 
 not rashly ventured where God had not called him; and this 
 consideration seemed to raise his feelings, which were natur- 
 ally acute, to a pitch of intense agony. It was but the pre- 
 lude and the promise of after usefulness ; it was in a manner 
 the parting blow of the adversary — the struggle in and by 
 which, his heavenly Father was girding and exercising him 
 for his appointed task. In his distress ho prayed that one, 
 though but one, soul might be granted to him in America as 
 the fruit of his ministry and the proof of his calling; and 
 when he arose from the bed of sickness, he arose, if possible, 
 more anxiou:sly earnest than ever, in the work of his heart. 
 He had intended to have settled in some neighbourhood in- 
 habited by W(.'lsh emigrants, and in his mother language to 
 have continued his ministerial labours; and with this view, 
 his attention had been directed to Beulah, in Pennsylvania,
 
 MCMOm OF THE RKV. JOHN WILLIAMS. 351 
 
 and Steuben, in New-York. In Welsh he delivered his first 
 sermon in America. It was preached in the meeting house 
 then occupied by the Rev. John Stanford, in Fair-street. 
 
 The Baptist church in Oliver, (at that time Fayette) street, 
 was then composed of about thirty members, of whom, how- 
 ever, only twenty could be found, who met in a small un- 
 finished wooden buildiiisf, about thirty feet square, without 
 i^alleries, and seated with benches instead of pews. This 
 church permitted him and liis countrymen occasionally to 
 use their place of worship for service in their own language. 
 They also encouraged Mr. W. to attempt the acquisition of 
 the English language, a request with which, after some hesi- 
 tation, he complied, and began to preach in English for one 
 part of the Sabbath, on the other j)art still continuing the use 
 of the Welsh. Through every disadvantage, the English 
 brethren saw a deep and fervent piety, and a native vigour 
 of mind, which greatly delighted them. They had made 
 several attempts to procure a supply, but were unable to find 
 one in all respects suitable. They now began to fix their 
 hopes upon the young stranger, and at length, after a trial of 
 nine months, Mr. Williams became, on their unanimous re- 
 quest, their pastor on the 28th of August, 1798. In the 
 summer of this year, the yellow fever commenced one of its 
 most dreadful attacks upon the city of New-York. Mr. W. 
 among others, was early seized with the contagion, and his 
 life was despaired of. IJut the decisive conduct of his physi- 
 cian, who, in the course of a i'ew hours, drew from him an 
 unusual quantity of blood, proved, under God, the means of 
 his recovery, and he again appeared with new zeal among the 
 people of his charge. Encouraged by the attention which he 
 excited, in January following the little church substituted 
 pews for benches. But they grew, and the place soon be- 
 came too strait, and in 1800, the meeting house was enlarged 
 to sixty by forty-three feet, and galleries were added. In 
 the course of years this place also became insuflicient ; and 
 in little more than twenty years after his first settlement, Mr. 
 W. saw raised the third meeting house, the present edifice, 
 a large stone building, sixty-four by ninety-four feet. 
 
 Great as was this success, it is not to be supposed that he 
 was without his sorrows: they met him at his very entrance. 
 Some even among the oflicers of this little church had drunk 
 into the spirit of Antinomianism, and by habitual intcmpefr-
 
 352 
 
 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOIIX WILLIAMS, 
 
 ance, provoked exclusion from the privileges of church 
 membership. The feeble band were also distressed from 
 without by their disputes with another small church in the 
 city ; a dispute trifling in its origin, but which mutual recrimi- 
 nation had heightened into a contest, that it required the 
 most persevering exercise of Mr. Williams' conciliatory 
 offices to terminate. It was by his meekness and patience, 
 long and assiduously employed, that harmony was at length 
 restored. 
 
 But in the midst of his sorrows he had also pleasures of the 
 most exalted kind. He saw a small and divided body 
 gradually growing into strength and harmony, and a pious 
 and zealous people gathering around him. God raised up 
 for him active friends, and brought into the church men like 
 minded with himself. In a ft^ months after his settlement, 
 he baptized Thomas Hewitt. In October, 1799, John 
 Cauldwell, with his wife, was added on a letter of dismission ; 
 and in a similar manner were received in June, 1801, Mr. 
 and Mrs. Withington. The names of these revered and 
 lamented men are mentioned because they now rest from 
 their labours. They seem to have been raised with their 
 pastor, and they, with many others, continued to cheer his 
 heart, and strengthen his hands, until the year 1822, when 
 all three, in quick succession, descended into the grave. 
 
 In November, 1801, Mr. W. was united in marriage to her 
 who is now his lamenting widow, an event which contributed 
 greatly to the ha|;)piness of his after life. 
 
 During an earlier part of his ministry, the salary received 
 from his people was insurtioient even to pay his board ; he 
 however derived assistance from the trilling funds which he 
 brought with him from Wales. But he was not, to borrow 
 an expression of his own, one of the " disciples of the loaves.'" 
 He laboured zealous!}', because he lal)oured disinterestedly. 
 His preaching was not the stinted consideration for a narrow 
 salary. His exertions were labours of love, and they brought 
 with thein, in the success and triumph of the gospel, in the 
 added numbers of his church, and in the visible increase of 
 peace, of love, and of zeal, their own " exceeding great re- 
 ward." It was not in him to faint or to murmur at the scan- 
 tiness of his support, nor yet did he regard it as an excuse 
 for contracting debts which he misht be unable to discharge. 
 With pecuniary difficulties he struggled in silence, thankful
 
 WtRMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN WILLIAMB. 353 
 
 to see in the growing prosperity of his charge, that the bless- 
 ing of heaven, if not of earth, was with and upon him. The 
 ■nnmber of members continued steadily to increase, and most 
 walked worthily of their profession. His high recommenda- 
 tions from Wales, together with his own conduct, gained him 
 new accessions of friends among all denominations. He had 
 not looked for applause, he had not laboured for it; but the 
 reputation of being a wise and devoted minister, continually 
 followed him. By gradual increase, tiie church enlarged its 
 numbers, till it counts at the present moment more than five 
 hundred and forty members within its fellowship. During his 
 connexion with them, Mr. W. baptiy.ed about four hundred 
 and tbrty members, exclusive of others baptized on Long/-' 
 Island and in other parts of the state. In the early part of 
 the year 1823, the Rev. Spencer H. Cone, of Alexandria, 
 ■(D. C.) was associated with Mr. Williams in the pastoral 
 office. 
 
 He had about this period, from various causes, begun to de- 
 cline, and the feebleness of his body seemed to obscure the 
 energies of his mind. In the course of one memorable year, 
 {18~"2) three of the men who had walked witli him all his 
 journey through, who had shared his sorrows and doubled 
 his joys, were removed as in a band to their everlasting home. 
 Their departure left on his mind an impression which could 
 never be erased. Others stiH remained, not their inferiors in 
 love to his person, or in zeal for the church; but those who 
 were gone, had been with him from the first ; he knew them 
 tlioroughly, had proved them often, and they had never 
 failed him. His labours wore still continued among his flock, 
 but decay was making silent and irreparable attacks upon his 
 once vigorous constitution. He did not complain, but his 
 appearance betrayed his internal alllictions. The influenza 
 which prevailed during the winter, seized upon and greatly 
 enfeebled him. But although evidently weakened and often 
 prevented from preaching, he never gave up the hope of ulti- 
 mate restoration to health, and of a happy renewal of his 
 labours. He seemed unwilling to entertain the idea that his 
 present sickness was smoothing his path to the grave. Such 
 thoughts his friends had, indeed, of late begun gladly to dis- 
 countenance, and for the last two or three weeks immediately 
 preceding his departure, he seemed gathering new strength, 
 and it was fondly hoped that summer would complete his 
 30*
 
 354 MKMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN WILLtAJtS. 
 
 recovery. On Friday and Saturday he had walked out, on 
 the former of these days to h considerable distance. The 
 Saturday night was, however, passed without rest, and when 
 he arose on the morning of the Sabbath, he seemed haggard 
 and broken, his eye was dim, and his breathing obstructed. 
 But neither his family nor himself apprehended any imme- 
 diate danger, as he had often been to appearance much worse ; 
 and although his physician was sent for, it was without any 
 expectation of the blow that was so soon and so suddenly to 
 fall. He came down to breakfast as usual, and afterwards 
 returned up stairs to his study. He there spent some time 
 in conversation with Mr. Williams, a young Baptist minister 
 from Vermont, who was then at his house, and in reading a 
 volume of President Edwards. It was his Treatise on the 
 Afl'ections, with him a favourite work. He remarked, with 
 a faint smile, to one who stood by, that he was spending the 
 morning of the Sabbath in a manner to which he had not been 
 accustomed. In former years, he observed, he had at this 
 hour been employed in preparing for the labours of the day ; 
 now he was enjoying the labours of others, referring to the 
 volume which he still grasped with a trembling hand. Little 
 thought he, and little expected those around him, that the 
 Sabbath he was this day to begin, was indeed /or different 
 from those he had been accustomed to spend. Unseen was 
 breaking on him the dasvn of a Sabbath, around whose bright- 
 ness the shades of evening never gather, for Cod himself is 
 its eternal sun. To Mrs. Williams, who came into the room 
 shortly after, he said, that as often as he had read this work 
 of Edwards', he saw in it new beauties at every perusal. 
 *' He speaks," continued he, " so sweetly of.Iesus." The 
 Rev. Alfred Bennet, of Homer, New- York, had in the mean- 
 while called to pay a friendly visit. After a little conversa- 
 tion, in which Mr. W. seemed not inclined to suppose that 
 there was any danger as to the event of his sickness, he 
 complained of having passed the previous night without sleep, 
 and requesting Mr. B. to employ himself with a book, walked 
 into an adjoining bed-room. He lay down, but soon became 
 uneasy, and expressed a wish to rise. Ho was assisted by 
 Mrs. W. so to do, and sitting u]) in his chair, passed as in a 
 moment away. When Mr. B. was called in from the next 
 iOODi, pulsation had ceased. Without warning, without fear, 
 and without pain, he had in an instant, burst the fetters of the
 
 MEMOIU OF THE REV. JOHN WILLIAMS. 3oJ» 
 
 flesh, flung aside the habiliments of mortality, and passed at 
 once from the darkness of earth, into the full blaze of the 
 New Jerusalem. Ere he had even thought of entering the 
 valley of the shadow of death, he was wafted, dry-shod, over 
 the swellings of Jordan, and found himself standing a disem- 
 bodied and purified spirit before the gates of the city of God. 
 If it be possible that death should resemble translation, cer- 
 tainly his departure bore that resemblance. Without groan 
 or struggle he ceased to breathe. The change to him was 
 the more ineffably glorious, from its unspeakable suddenness. 
 He had not been disposed to believe that this sickness was 
 unto death, yet was he, in the fullest and best sense, prepared 
 for his end. The wise, as well as the foolish virgins slum- 
 bered and slept; with them, indeed, he slumbered, but with 
 them, also, even at the midnight hour, his lamp was trimmed 
 and his loins were girt, as those that wait for the coming of 
 the Master. His was an habitual preparation, a preparation 
 of the heart, though not of the eye. His dissolution was not 
 betokened and preceded by those glimmerings of glory which 
 often shed so rich a lustre on the death-bed of the faithful. 
 It had no slow gradations from darkness to light, — no day 
 breakings of joyful anticipation, — no dawnings of increasing 
 rapture, growing brighter and brighter unto the perfect day; 
 but like the change of one who lies down in the shades of 
 evening and wakes in the noon-day blaze, all was suddenness 
 of ecstacy. He had not, as from the summit of Pisgah, been 
 transported with clear views of the " land far off, and the king 
 in his beauty;" and although he always, by the eye of an 
 habitual faith, contemplated the land of promise as lying at 
 the end of his journey, he saw it but as through a glass darkly, 
 nor knew that he was already on the borders of his inheritance. 
 
 It had been in some degree his wish to pass suddenly away. 
 He had prayed that his life might not be lengthened beyond 
 his usefulness. The prayer was heard. His labours were 
 finished. Ever ready to give in a joyful account of his 
 stewardship, the voice of the Master on a sudden reached his 
 ear and pierced his heart. And ere the sun, which had 
 shone so brightly into his sick chamber, had reached its zenith, 
 his spirit had soared beyond " the flaming bounds of space" 
 where imagination faints to follow him. 
 
 There was a beautifid adaptation in many of the accompany- 
 ing circumstances of his death. The time, — the morning of
 
 536 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN M'lLLIAMS. 
 
 the day of the Lord, — the place, — a room which had often 
 witnessed the secret and fervent prayer, — the morning sun, 
 streaming down its golden brilliancy, — the resplendent se- 
 renity of the sky, — the stillness of the hour, ere dissipation 
 and riot were yet abroad in the streets of the great city, — all, 
 in their peace, their brightness, and their purity, seemed to 
 unite in shedding a glow of holy triumph upon the last moment 
 of the departing saint. Moment we say — for it was but a 
 moment; and a hand too gentle to be felt, had loosed the 
 silver cord, and broken the golden bowl; and he, that scarce 
 an hour before, had spoken of uniting in the worship of the 
 congregation, ceased to be a dweller upon earth. The 
 promise which the dying Withington had made, to be the first 
 to greet his pastor welcome home, was no doubt fulfilled. 
 
 Fancy may perhaps be forgiven if she finds in the volume 
 which employed his last thoughts on earth, a happy adaptation 
 to the circumstances of his death. The sentence on which 
 his eye would seem to have cast its last look, (Edwards' 
 Works, vol. iv. p. 201,) was one of the many in which 
 Edwards is emploj'ed in heaping proof upon proof, and with 
 all his characteristic strength of collected argument, making 
 " demonstration doubly sure," in shewing that it is possible 
 to have strong and deep feeling-s of the excellency of the 
 character of God, and yet be wanting in the temper of true 
 Christianity. Directly opposite was the situation of his mind. 
 He had, in a large measure, the genius and spirit of true 
 Christianity, although, at the moment, he probably knew no 
 remarkable elevation of feeling. He proved what he read, 
 and rose, in confirmation of the truth, to that heaven, where 
 the " ajf'ections'" never wander. 
 
 On the 22d of May, 182.5, at about twenty minutes before 
 ten, in the morning, he entered into his rest. On the follow- 
 ing Tuesday, his remains were interred from the meeting 
 house in Oliver-street, after an alfecting funeral discourse^ 
 pronounced by one who had travelled with him, in the Chris- 
 tian and ministerial path, many days, the venerable .John 
 Stanford. " The rest of the labouring man" of God " is 
 sweet," formed the basis of the discourse. 
 
 The memory of the just is blessed. Few men equalled 
 John Williams in the consistency of his Christian character 
 as a whole. We frequently see some one individual excel- 
 lence carried out into glorious exercise at the expense and
 
 MKMOIR OF THE KKV. JOHN WII.MAMS. 357 
 
 to the neglect of other virtues ; but in liis character, all the 
 traits of true Christianity seemed to unite their beauty, with- 
 out giving to any one feature an unsecn)ly prominence. His 
 zeal was ardent, but united with the greatest prudence. That 
 prudence, instead of degenerating into craftiness, was accom- 
 panied by the most perfect simplicity ; simplicity was tem- 
 pered by meekness, yet his meekness had, for its basis, strong 
 decision of character, and unbending firmness of princijde. 
 He never insulted charity by offering to sacrifice on her altar 
 the truth " as it is in Jesus," and yet he never hoped to 
 advance the cause of truth by bringing to her defence bigotry 
 and intolerance. He loved the image of the Saviour where- 
 ever he found it, and it was not the barrier of his own sect, 
 or the badge of another, that could prevent him from acknow- 
 ledging his union in spirit with those vvhom the same Re- 
 deemer had purchased with the same blood. As a minister 
 of the gospel, he lived the gospel. Charitable to the poor 
 of his Hock, profuse of his labours, and constant in his visits, 
 it was his meat and his drink to do the will of his heavenly 
 Father, in sliowing mercy and kindness to the afflicted and 
 the desolate. He carried the consolations of the gospel into 
 the meanest hovels, and never shrunk from entering the 
 deepest cellar, or the filthiest den, in which misery and grief 
 had enshrouded themselves. It is believed, that in this 
 employ it was, that he imbibed the contagion of that fever 
 which had so nearly proved fatal; and when, during the last 
 winter of his life, he was confined by the weather to his house, 
 his most feeling lamentations were, that he was prevented 
 from seeing the poor and the afflicted of the flock. In hos- 
 pitality, he always endeavoured to maintain tlie character of 
 a ])rimitive bishop, and the brethren from ever}' part of the 
 country were ever cheerfully welcomed to his table and his 
 dwelling. In the meetings of the church, he is described as 
 presiding with a moderation and calmness that never deserted 
 him. His opinion was not given until all had spoken; it 
 was modest and brief, and moulded with the kindest deler- 
 ence for contending opinions, and therclbre it was generally 
 decisive. No man sought authority less. Never an action 
 of his life assumed the character of '■ lording it over God's 
 heritage." The peace of the church gave peace and comfort 
 to him; when they were agitated he was distressed, and 
 many a sleepless night testified the anxiety which preyed ia
 
 358 
 
 MF.MOIII OF THK KEV. JOHN WILLIAMS. 
 
 secret upon his spirit, when contention and bitterness had 
 sprung up among the household of faith. It was to this 
 pacific, gentle, and forbearing spirit, that he was indebted 
 for much of his usefuhiess and much of his influence. His 
 advice was the more regarded, because it was known to come 
 from a mind unbiassed by passion. He never lent himself 
 to a party, and all parties honoured him. In the pulpit, he 
 was not invested with that eloquence which delights while it 
 dazzles a polite audience, liis language was not at all times 
 *' furbelowed and flounced" with grammatical nicety, and 
 his gestures wanted the gracefulness of practised oratory. 
 But circumstances like these were overlooked in one who 
 never seemed to enter the pulpit but under a view of the 
 vastness and solemnity of his charge. His spirit was in the 
 work. His exhortations and admonitions were earnest, sim- 
 ple, and frequent. He had about him that fervour of feeling 
 which is the very soul of true eloquence, and although he 
 never ceased to feel the disadvantage of preaching a language 
 acquired late in life, his devoted zeal, his willingness to be 
 as nothing in the hands of Him " who is the fulness of all 
 things," set him above the fear and beyond the reach of 
 puny criticism. Provided he was but understood, he seemed 
 careless of the garb and style in which he came forth, " a 
 dying man to dying men." The event showed, that he had 
 chosen the right path. He who confounds the wisdom of 
 the wise of this world, made him an acceptable and useful 
 minister of that gospel, which was first preached by fishermen 
 and tent makers. The careless simplicity of his style, proved 
 to the man of observation, that his spirit was set upon the 
 substance of his ministry, and like " the brave negligence of 
 anticjuity," delighted, because it showed a mind intent on 
 higher thoughts than the pointing of a maxim, or the rounding 
 of a sentence. 
 
 The foregoing observations, let it be remembered, arc 
 applied to the manner, not to the matter of his discourses. 
 Let it not be supposed, that bis sermons were the unsUidied 
 effusions of indolence and ignorance. Ho was in truth a 
 close student, given to much reading, well v(!rsed in theology, 
 both practical, doctrinal, and polemic. He had attentively 
 studied the most valuable divines of England and America, 
 both controversialists and commentators. Of the latter, his 
 fiavourite was Henry, and his pulpit exercises in their sim-
 
 MKMdIR OF THK ItPV. JOHN WILI.CAMS. 359 
 
 plicity and earnestness, and tlu-ir numerous and beautiful 
 allusions to familiar occurrences, seem to have been partly 
 formed on the model of that admirable writer. He made no 
 pretensions to learning, but of theoloj^ical learning he was 
 certainly possessed in a high degree ; and the size of a library, 
 gradually acquired, witnessed his fondness for books. The 
 truth is, that he devoted much labour and study to his pulpit 
 ministrations, and at his death, he left behind him more than 
 two thousand manuscript skeletons of sermons. 
 
 His studies were mingled with prayer. In prayer, he 
 steeped the seed of the word, wiiich with prayer lie scattered. 
 Prayer was his grand weapon; but there were certain times 
 in which, rising as it were beyond himself, he seemed to wield 
 it with more than human strength. Those who have kneeled 
 for any length of time around the family altar, cannot but 
 remember with what peculiar unction and earnestness he came 
 among them to the duty of family prayer, on the evening pre- 
 ceding the Sabbath. Always fluent and vehement in his 
 petitions, on Saturday night, his spirit seemed to glow with 
 warmer feelings, and in his preparations for the exercises of 
 the coming day, his lips seemed to have been touched as with 
 a live coal from ofT the altar. It was, in general, late before 
 he descended from his study into the room where the family 
 was assembled. His countenance, his air, and conversation, 
 all bore marks of his having enjoyed communion unutterable, 
 " that the world knoweth not of." There was a burning 
 urgency, an emjihasis of humility in every petition that 
 trembled on his lips, and his words came seemingly too slow 
 and too weak to give utterance to his feelings. 
 
 " When one. that holds conimuiiion with the skies, 
 lias till'd his urn wliere those pure waters rise, 
 And once more mingles with us meaner things, 
 'Tis e'en as iCan angel shook liis wings; 
 Immortal fragrance tills the circuit wide." 
 
 On the evening of the Sabbath also, when the labours of the 
 day were closed, he seemed to enjoy unusual happiness. In 
 the services of the morninp, he would often complain of con- 
 straint; but with the number of his exercises, (for he gener- 
 ally preached three times a day,) his freedom and zeal seemed 
 to increase. " One Sabbath nearer the end,'^ was his usual 
 exclamation before retiring on that evening to rest, and he
 
 360 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN' WILLIAMS. 
 
 always seemed to speak it with the tone of a labourer de- 
 lighted in the employ that fatigued him, looking forward with 
 pleasure, but without impatience, to the rest of the weary 
 and the home of the way-worn. 
 
 The strength of his mind has been underrated by those far 
 his inferiors in intellect. He had received from heaven a 
 strong natural understanding. He had much of what Locke 
 has somewhere styled, " large, sound, roundabout sense.'* 
 In early life, he had, from principles which we cannot but 
 honour, even while we lament their application, declined 
 availing himself of the advantages of a classical education. 
 A man of less good sense would have affected to despise the 
 critical learning he was conscious of wanting, but such was 
 not John AVilliams. He often spoke of neglected opportu- 
 nities, and spoke alwa3's with the deepest regret; while, to 
 the last of his life, he was a supporter and promoter of Edu- 
 cation Societies for the instruction of pious 3'oung men for 
 the ministry. His own case was a strong instance of the 
 truth, that the Head of the church often gives to intellect and 
 piety, the success and graces which he denies to mere human 
 learning; but he was never encouraged by success to act 
 upon the principle of making himself a blockhead, in the hope 
 that God would make him an apostle. He sought learning 
 eagerly and constantly, and, by diligent study, acquired a mass 
 of general information, far from comvnon. In the structure 
 of his discourses, he exhibited great judgment. His divisions 
 wore iew and natural, yot his sermons were always copious, 
 The allegorizing taste, which finds every doctrine in every 
 text, he disliked too heartily to imitate. The grand feature 
 of his mental as well as of his moral character, was simpli- 
 city. He was less anxious for what was novel, than for what 
 was true. He sought rather the useful than the jjleasing. 
 He did not profess to hold forth the truth as the result of a 
 train of elaborate reasoning, but he stated the doctrine with 
 the simplicity of one perfectly convinced of its truth, proved 
 it briefly, pressed it warmly, and left the rest to heaven. In 
 his ministry, his temper, perhaps, led him to dwell rather on 
 the beauties of the gospel, than on the terrors of the law; to 
 hover rather around the milrler graces of Zion, than amid tho 
 darkness and thunders of 8inai; but he delivered few ser- 
 mons, perha))s none, in which tiie ungodly were not pointedly 
 addressed. In the discussion of a controverted point in tlxi 
 
 i
 
 MEMOIR OF Trir. PvEV. JOim WILMAMS. 361 
 
 socinl rirrlo, his good sense was exliibitod in tlie same iin- 
 prolending manner. It accorded neither with liis habits nor 
 his wislies to discuss the argument at lengtli. Some well put 
 question, some pithy maxim, when otliers had ceased to speak, 
 expressed at once liis wisdom and modesty. lie might, per- 
 haps, have been unable, from the delects of his early educa- 
 tion, to give a regular account of the series and connexion of 
 the steps by which he arrived at an opinion ; but good sense 
 in general led him to the right and true one. It was enough 
 that he reached the port, without recollecting each tack and 
 bearing of t!ie voyage. 
 
 His sentiments on what has been called the modern ques- 
 tion, and on most others, perhaps on all debateable pointF, 
 agreed with those maintained by Fuller. Edwards, Owen, 
 and Fuller, might be called his triumvirate in doctrinal 
 theology. He had studied all, doe|)ly and repeatedly. A 
 favourite class of writings with him, was the works of the 
 Puritans and Non-conformists of England. From the more 
 familiar beauties of Henry and Bunyan, up to the sublimity 
 »iui grandeur of Owen and Charnock, he had attentively 
 perused the niost distinguished works produced by that vrii- 
 erable race of confessors, " men of whom the world was not 
 worthy." 
 
 Of his own acquirements, he thought most humbly. A. 
 sermon delivered before the New-York Missionary Society, 
 at a time when that body was composed of various denoin - 
 nations, was, with the exception of a few Association Letter-., 
 his first and last efl'ort as an author. Of Missionary and 
 liible Societies, it is almost needless to say, he was a firm 
 supporter I'rom the fn-st moment of his acquaintance with 
 them, to the last of his life. 
 
 As a man, a relative, and a friend, to know was to love 
 him. The unaffected benignity of his manners, his sincerity, 
 and his kindness, gained him friends j and probablv, no one 
 who had once been his friend, was ever entirely alienated 
 from him. Indeed, the manner in which he carried tliC 
 temper of Christianity into the duties of every day life, gave 
 an uniform beauty to his character which was irresistibiv 
 pleasing. AVith acute natural feelings he combined great 
 fortitude. Cliristianily taught the one to flow oiU in continual 
 out-goings of love towards mankind, and heightened the 
 exercise of the other, into the most uncomplaining, cliildlike 
 
 31
 
 362 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN WILLIAMS. 
 
 resignation. His ministerial patli had been strewed with 
 many mercies, but it bad bad also its tborns and its roughness. 
 He spoke ot"ten and feeling!}' of the one, scarcely ever of the 
 latter. In the walks of public and the shades of private life, 
 he exhibited the same spirit of dependence and faith. He 
 was always, in all places, and ibrough every change, and at 
 every period, the same mild, meek, and patient Christian^ 
 He had, in a great degree, what may be called oneness of 
 character. Above disguise and free from change, jealousy 
 never clouded the warmth of his friendship, passion never 
 obscured the wisdom of bis judgment. IVot that this unifor- 
 mity of character was owing to a stagnation of intellect and 
 feeling, to a cold and heartless nature. Few excelled him 
 in warmth of relative and religious feeling. But the zeal 
 which ever marked him was enduring and equable. Its 
 movements were not the occasional ebulitions of heated 
 passions, or the efl'ect of strong external excitement, the 
 babblings of a summer brook, noisy and evanescent; but 
 they were the gentle and the continued overflowings of a 
 living spring of charity, ever fed by the love of God " shed 
 abroad within his heart." It came down, not like a violent 
 storm sweeping away all before it, and levelling the weed 
 and the flower in one common ruin ; but it was a calm and 
 steady shower, fertilizing as it fell, and witnessed in its (jfii-cts 
 by the beauty and freshness of the scenery it watered. He 
 possessed, in a great degree, perseverance of character, not 
 the obstinacy which disgusts, or the sternness which awes, 
 but a settled adherence to a plan cautiously and deliberately 
 formed. It was never his »]niiap|)iiiess to feel that restless 
 vacillation, that constant change of object, motive, and pur- 
 suit, wiiicb ruins all influence and all luijipiness. He did not 
 venture rashly on every splendid speculation that presented 
 itself; but when he had once embarked with serious and 
 prayerful deliberation, it was not a slight tempest or a passing 
 cloud that could drive him back. This temper may, in some 
 rases, have assumed the apixarance of ol)stinacy, but it was 
 the stubbornness of an upright mind too strong to bend, too 
 well rooted to be shaken. 
 
 Sucli a character could not Init cdnmiand resjirct, even 
 from those who thouglit dilTcrenth'. Men, proud of their in- 
 fidelity, have ilone homage to bis transparent sinrciity; and 
 scoHbrs, who have deliglited themselves with ridiculing the
 
 MEMOIR OB" THE UEV. JOHN WII.MAMS. 3G3 
 
 religion of others as hypocrisy, iiavc been known to eulogixe 
 him. Th;!ir eiiloiiy was not bouii;ht by unmanly concessions 
 and cowardly disguise. He spoke earnestly and feelingly 
 on the subject of religion, it mattered not wliere or before 
 whom; but there was no attempt at display, and they who 
 hu-ted his principles, were awed by the evident purity of his 
 motives. His gravity was as free from all tincture of morose- 
 ness, as was his mildness from all levity. The gentleness of 
 his temper seemed to beam from his countenance, and words 
 of kindness distilled from his lips. In the church and in the 
 world, ije was eminently a man of |)eace. He sacrificed 
 feeling, convenience, interest, and every thing but principle, 
 to this darling object of affection. And among the frailties, 
 which must ever attach themselves to humanity, it was per- 
 haps the leading one in his cijaracter, lliat he j'ielded too 
 tamely to the will of others. 
 
 Humility seemed in-wrought into the very texture of his 
 mind. He displayed it, not in loud and nauseating profes- 
 sions of self-abasement, but in a reluctance to speak of his 
 own feelings and his own doings ; in a willingness to be the 
 least in greatness and the last in honours. This was not 
 assumed, because it was displayed more in deeds than in 
 words. When he would occasionally mention himself, be 
 always spoke with the deepest lowliness; but it was a subject 
 on which he did not often touch, on which he seemed un- 
 willing to waste a thought. He scarcely mentioned oven the 
 success in his ministry which had delighted his heart. To 
 all the varied duties of the pastoral oflice, he seemed anxious 
 to apply the precept first spoken of alms-giving, " I^et not thy 
 left hand know what thy right hand doeth." During the 
 whole course of his ministry, it is not remembered that he 
 ever used, in a discourse from the j)ulpit, the pronoun " I," 
 (as applied to himself,) or that his sermons ever contained, 
 with the exception that follows, any open allusion, however 
 pardonable, to the events of his own life, or the workings of 
 his own heart. Was it that he was deficient in the feeling 
 of what he taught, or had he no stones from personal obser- 
 vation from which to draw? The contrary was eminently 
 the fact; bis sermons were most rich in Christian experience. 
 li'Jt he feared all appearance of preaching himself rather 
 than his Master. O.ie f.jature was ever the prominent char- 
 acter in the fore-ground of every sermon. He held up the 
 Saviour, and was himself concealed in the shade.
 
 361 MEMOIR OF TUK REV. JOHN' WILLIAMS. 
 
 Oil liis recovery from the yellow lever in 1793, lie cliose 
 for his subject, on appearing again among his people, the 
 eiiihlh and ninth verses of Psalni cxvi. The same text 
 lormed the liasis of his discourse on the afternoon of Sunday, 
 3Iarc!i 20iii, tiie last sermon which he delivered before lie 
 went up to that church where ministrations and ordinances 
 are at an end. Its selection, in the latter instance, showed 
 tli:it he considered himself, in some measure, restored to 
 health. The issue proved, that the thoughts of the Lord 
 were high above his thoughts. 
 
 A life like his, however barren in incident, cannot hut be 
 most fertile in instruction. Is there a youth depressed in 
 spirit at comparing his own advantages and attainments with 
 the high standards around him, let him look to the success 
 with which God crowned a faithful, self-taught labourer; 
 and, blushing for his own despondenc\', let him thank God, 
 aufl take courage. Eloquence and secular learning are not 
 indispensable ; and the spirit of faith, and prayer, and love, 
 that animated John "Williams, is more rarely found, and 
 when found, is worth far more than all the unsanctified 
 learning that all the volumes of an university can give. 
 Forbidden to shine in the walks of science, let him who 
 laments the ignorance of his youth, be content to share the 
 obscurity together with the usefulness of those holy, devout, 
 and humble men, 
 
 " Who comfort those, that wait, 
 To hear plain truth at Jmlah's hallowed gate: 
 Their language .siuiple, as their iiiaiiiiers meek. 
 No shining ornaineiits have they to seek; 
 Nor labour they, nor time, nor talents waste, 
 In sorting flowers to suit a fickle taste ; 
 But while they speak the wisdom of the skies, 
 Which art can only darken and disguise, 
 Til' abundant harvest, recoinpeiise diviue, 
 Itwpays their work." 
 
 lint let such a man remember too, how assiduously the 
 subject of this memoir toiled to supply the want he so deeply 
 regretted, and let him never be guilty ol despising knowledge. 
 Is there one who, on the contrary, hopes by fancied elo- 
 (juence to gain and secure the love and respect of his people? 
 To him let this luimble biography sp(;ak, 'The most touching 
 and powerful of all eloquence is tlw; eloquence of a lioly, 
 itarmless life, and even tliat may fail.'
 
 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN WILLIAMS. 365 
 
 Is thorc one who foars to mingle too familiarly with the 
 flock under his charge, lest intimac}' wear oil' that dignity 
 which should attach itself to the minister of tiie gospel, to 
 him would we say, Few men visited more faithfully, fulfill- 
 ing to the very letter the aj)ostolic practice, " preaching 
 from house to hou.se," than did John Williams ; and few 
 111 )re thoroughly gained and more devotedly preserved the 
 aflections of his congregation, tlian did he. We almost 
 fancy, that we yet see him, at an early hour, setting out on 
 his route of pastoral visitation, or, at a late liour, returning 
 fro.H it, exhausted with fatigue; and we gaze upon the pic- 
 ture, till we almost forget that ho is, where the flock are 
 exempt from sickness, and the shepherd from fatigue. Is 
 th'.ro one whose imagination has dwelt upon the sublimer 
 speculations, the more romantic and shadowy views of the 
 Ciiristian pastorship, till he has become weary of the common 
 «nd every day employments of a minister — till his mind has 
 grrown disgusted with the tedious rounds of sermons and visits, 
 which he must travel from January to December ; — until, in 
 fiat, he begins to grasp at something better and larger, and 
 more adapted to his talents? Let him know that the path 
 of humility is the path to usefulness; and that it will require 
 all his wisdom to tread it without deviation. John Williams 
 had no splendid generalizations to talk of, and to labour 
 about, and to find in their failure an excuse for the neglect 
 of humbler duties. He had no new and grand views of 
 Ijuman nature to propose, no novel methods and machina- 
 tions for subduing the world, that were to sweep away at 
 once, the stubborn enmity of the human heart, and effect 
 what the eloquence and wisdom of Paul were too weak to 
 accomplish. On the contrary, he knew that man was ever 
 the same — that the enmity of the human heart was ever the 
 same ; and that the remedy for that enmity was at all times 
 but one. Instead of looking to some new system oftheolegy, 
 or some original plan of sermonizing, he looked to heaven 
 and trod the beaten path, the path that had been worn by 
 the feet of apostles and martyrs, the path of humble faith. 
 That path led him to a high stand in the church of God. 
 He had gone unto his task, anxious to do a little good as in 
 a corner, and blushed to tind, by the praises he received, ' 
 that he had been doing more than his louder neighbours. 
 H« knew that there was One, without whom he could do 
 
 31*
 
 366 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN WILLIAMS. 
 
 noihiiig, with whom he could do all things. To that One 
 he prayed ; in His name stood up ; in His name went forth; 
 with His name began; and with His name ended. It was 
 the Alpha and the Omega ol' his thouglits, his words, his 
 prayers, and his labours. In the might of this single-eyed 
 iaith he laboured and returned, bearing his sheaves, rejoicing 
 and trampling on every obstacle. 
 
 In this imperfect and feeble sketch of a most excellent 
 character, we would not, that description should swell into 
 panegyric. Were the lamented subject of it now on earti', 
 nothing to him would be more displeasing. His graces and 
 git'ts weve but the faint reflection of light from above. Hj 
 was but an instrument in a iniglitier hand ; by that hand he 
 was at first moulded, and by the same hand afterward em- 
 ployed to build up the churcli of Christ. His virtues ar« 
 held up not to be praised, but that their exhibition may 
 awaken others to emulation, that they, " beholding his good 
 works, may glorify his Father which is in heaven," and be- 
 come " followers of" him who " through faith and patience," 
 is now " inheriting the promises." A life so modest, would 
 be ill adorned by indiscreet encomium. AVere it for us to 
 choose, and, unconsulted, to give an unasked opinion, the 
 monument that is to mark his grave, as well as every other 
 object intended to perpetuate his memory, should, hi its un- 
 omamented simplicity, be like him whose name it bears, and 
 its only inscription should be 
 
 " JOHN WILLIAMS, 
 
 A MAN OF GOD. 
 
 Born 8th of March, (O. S.) 1767. 
 
 Died '>2d of May, 1825." 
 
 Zitt wku will, claim a higher eulogy ! 
 
 To the private Christian, no less than to him who fills the 
 sacred desk, the life of Mr. W. may teach the wisdom of that 
 Providence, which shrouds its paths in darkness. The eye 
 that saw him a cripple peasant boy on the mountains of 
 Wales, would not easily have detected in him the seeds of 
 future greatness, the stamina of intellectual and moral 
 strength. But the eye that marks the sparrow's fall, and 
 iruides the wanderings of every mote of dust that dances in 
 tho sun-beam, saw otherwise. God had marked and chosen
 
 MEMOIR OF THE RCV. JOHN WILLIAMS. 3G7 
 
 him for a leader of his Israel. The e^'e of an unseen, and 
 as yet unacknowledged, Providence, was on his early path. 
 Its care shielded him from danger, and fixed the course in 
 which his character should be formed. The hand of his 
 heavenly Father meted out to him the aflllctions that sliould 
 exercise, and the consolations that should support liim. 
 That hand brought him, at an early age, into the ways of his 
 coniiu mdments, and led hiai in safety and peace in all his 
 journeyings through his native land, " by 41 way that he 
 knew not;" it finally conducted him over the waste of waters 
 to a foreign shore, and there fixed him, against his own ex- 
 pectations, as a city set on a hill, a burning and a shining 
 light. That light is not yet tiuenched, still his example 
 speaks. His words are yet ringing in our ears, and the fruits 
 of Ills labours are yet before our eyes. We cannot but re- 
 member him with lamentation for ourselves, with rejoicing 
 for him. The tears that will find their way at the recollec- 
 tion of his loss, are biightened by the thought of what he lias 
 been on earth, of what he is now in heaven. 
 
 Thrice fiappy they who slepp in God, 
 Sepiircly wattod o'er the flood 
 
 To C;iiia;ui's [isacefal shore : 
 Whose lives were as a daily death, 
 Wh) wiilkd with God aud'liv'd by faith, 
 
 And iioNV shall die no more. 
 Such, gracious Lord, we wish to he, 
 Such Wiis our paator, uow with Thee. 
 
 Toplady.
 
 M E :»i O I R 
 
 REV. THOMAS BALDWIN, D. D. 
 
 RvuELY has it been our duty to record the personal history 
 of a man so extensively kno'.vn, so univorsall}' respected, or 
 so tenderly heloved. llirely does it fall to tlie lot of an in- 
 dividual to fill so many and so important stations in the reli- 
 gious world, and to fill them all so meekly and 3'et so ably. 
 A name so unsullied has not often been written on the tomb, 
 nor has a [)atriarch often been gathered to his fathers amid 
 so wide spread a burst of filial lamentation. Under such 
 circumstances, we are well aware how ditlicult is the task 
 which our situation at present imposes upon us. Well might 
 we shrink from it, were it not our dul}'. We knov/ how ex- 
 t(;nsive was the circle of friends to whom the subject of our 
 Memoir was known, how deep and how allectionate was the 
 interest which ho never failed to awaken in those wlio ap- 
 proached him, and that every one will ex[)ect us to give to 
 the picture, the living, breathing loveliness of the original; 
 and we well know that to do this will be impossible. There 
 was in Dr. Baldwin's countenance a peculiar charm of ex- 
 pression, which no painter ever succeeded in transferring to 
 the canvass. And there was in his mind a striking combina- 
 tion of varied excellence, which every one has felt, but which 
 we despair of being able to recal to definite or even to vivid 
 recollection. We shall only therefore humbly attempt to lay 
 before our readers what we have been able to collect of his 
 history, and what we have observed of his chara .Cr, sin- 
 cerely regretting that the task had not fallen into abler hands. 
 The Rev. Thomas Baldwin was born in Bozrah, Con- 
 necticut, December 2od, llo'i, and was the only son of 
 Thomas and Mary Baldwin, both natives of the satne place. 
 Of the early history of his family but little is known. It may,
 
 370 MEMOIR OF THE REV. THOMAS BALDWIN, D. D. 
 
 liowever, be observed, that his father was attaclied to the 
 military service, and rose to dibtinction in the then Colonial 
 army. He died whilst his son was an infant- 
 
 The family of his mother was remarkable for talent. She 
 was one off^leven sisters, all of whom were distinguished for 
 unusual acquirements, and for powerful intellect. She was 
 also a woman of eminent piety ; and it is to her early instruc- 
 tions that the Church of Clirist is indebted for much of the 
 usefulness of that son, whom from a child she brought up in 
 the nurture and admonition of the Lord. 
 
 It cannot be expected that much should be recollected of 
 the early history of a man, who has outlived so many of the 
 companions of his childhood. So far as anything, however, 
 can be known, the traits of character for which he was in 
 manhood remarkable, were very early developed. From 
 very infancy, his temper was noticed for its unruffled serenity. 
 His mother used to observe, that never did she but in one 
 single instance know him to betray any signs of impatience; 
 and when on this occasion she expressed her surprise, he in- 
 stantly re()lied, '• Mother, I am not angry." 
 
 Another trait for which his childhood was distinguished, was 
 love of justice. Even in his boyish sports, he was always the 
 enemy of oppression, controlling the strong and sup|)orting 
 the weak. And yet this sway was exercised so mildly, that 
 among the playmates of his infancy, he obtained the blessing 
 of a peace-maker. 
 
 He very early discovered a taste for reading. Not only 
 did he devote every leisure moment to the improvement of 
 his mind, but also consecrated to this object the hours of la- 
 bour. Whenever his eniployments were of such a nature 
 that one of his hands was disengaged, it was occupied with a 
 book. By these habits of incessant application, he very early 
 acijuired a stock of valuable, though miscellaneous informa- 
 tion, which, combined with strong [)owers of original thinking, 
 seemed in youth to mark him out for unusual eminence. 
 
 At this time, the advantages of education were much 
 less e> I ;nsively enjoyed in New-Kngland than at |»res«nt. 
 Schools were more rare, and the mode of instruction palpa- 
 bly defective. Asa proof of this, it need only bo remarked, 
 th It when Dr. Baldwin removed toCanaan, I\ew-Ham()shire, 
 where he afterwards resided, he was fjenerally selected on th« 
 fc>abbath to read a sermon lu the peo{)le who assembU-d for
 
 MEMOIR OF THF. HEV. THOMAS F.ALDWIN, n. D. HTl 
 
 public worship, bocause be was the only young man in the 
 town who was sulVicifntly educated to perform this service 
 acceptably. The mention of this fact is siiflicient to show 
 how strong must have been his early bias towards intellectual 
 iuiprovemcnf. 
 
 Ft will tend to show bow soon the most striking traits of 
 bis character were exhibited, if we add, that those who knew 
 Dr. Baldwin in youth have remarked, that he was then pecu- 
 liarly noticed for the sprightliness of his wit. Though always 
 innocent and always unoffending, it was frequently pungent, 
 and always in point. Tliosc who were in the habits of fa- 
 miliar intercourse with him, will well remember that rich vein 
 of most playful good humour, which was at times discoverable 
 until his latest day. 
 
 When Dr. Baldwin was about sixteen jears of age, his 
 motlier, who was now the second time married to a very 
 worthy and pious man by the name of Eames, removed to 
 Canaan, New-Hampshire. lie removed with the family; 
 and this became for several years the place of his residence. 
 The town was yet unsettled, and the waggons which trans- 
 ported their necessary baggage were the first that ever tra- 
 versed the forest. Mr. Eames was by trade a blacksmith, 
 and to this business, as is usual in the early periods of a set- 
 tlen)ent, he added another, that of a miller ; and, if we mistake 
 not, that also of a carpenter. In these labours he was assisted 
 by his step-son, who, until his marriage, lived constantly at 
 home, enduring the hardships and sustaining the privations 
 peculiar to early settlers. 
 
 At the age of twenty-two, on the 22d of September, 1775, 
 he was married to Miss Ruth Huntington, of Norwich, Con- 
 necticut, with whom he was happily united until her death, 
 February 11 th, 1812. 
 
 The town of Canaan was rapidly peopled by emigrants 
 from Connecticut and Massachusetts. Before he was thirty. 
 Dr. Baldwin was elected to represent it in the General Court. 
 l)f his reputation as a legislator, we have no certain informa- 
 tion. It is evident, however, that his success was such as to 
 gratify his constituents; for they repeatedly re-elected him. 
 If we mistake not, they did not cease to choose him, until, 
 feeling the importance of his n)inisterial labours, he had de- 
 cidedly expressed his dettrminaiion to serve as a legislator 
 no longer.
 
 ■J7;: Mr.JIOIR OF TIIF, REV TITOMA? nAI.DWlK, T). D. 
 
 We are Iiappy to li^vn arrived at a period in tliis nvmoir, 
 at which we are onahh'd to refer to a manuscript written by 
 Dr. Baldwin himself, during the faw last ^^ears of his life. 
 It commences with the relation of the events connected with 
 his reliaious experience, and abrnptly terminates with the 
 time of his arrival in Boston. As it is numbered "Memoir, 
 No. 2," it is probable that either the former part was written 
 and has been itrrcovrrably lost, or else that the author com- 
 menced with that part which most deeply interested hira, 
 with the intention of com])letinsf the beginning at some otlier 
 period. This narrative comprises about ten years of his life ; 
 and as it has been very kindly placed in our hands by his 
 afllicted widow, wo shall make no apology for introducing it 
 at once to our readers. We do this with the greater pleasure, 
 not only because, in a very simple dress, it presents some oi' 
 the most intc>resting events in the religious history of its much 
 beloved author, but also because it gives us an unusually 
 vivid idea of the manners and customs of that part of Nevv- 
 Kngland at the time of our revolutionary contest. The au- 
 tograph memoir commences as follows: — 
 
 " In the year J7S0, I have reason to hope I was brought 
 to the saving knowledge of the truth. The methods by which 
 this cliange was eflected I will endeavour to state with as 
 much particularity as ma}' be necessary in this |)lace. 
 
 " Before { proceed, I would, however, just r(^mark, that 
 I have no reason to believe that I had ever been the subject 
 of such religious im[)ressi()ns as many others have during my 
 early years. I had indeed a general conviction of the reality 
 of revealed religion, and that I had no lot nor part in it. 
 When, however, my conscience accused me of living without 
 God and without hope in the world, I vvas usually able to 
 pacify it by promis<'s of future amendment, or by recurring 
 to the plea of inability. Oftc n 'when I had spent an evening 
 until a late hour in mirth and dancing, when I came to lay 
 my head upon my pillow, the thought of sudden death would 
 intrude into my mind. Such questions as these wonlil otten 
 force themselves upon me: — ' What if you should die before 
 morning?' ' What if the judgment day should come V 1'he 
 answer was, ' I am unprepared for either.' These thotights 
 at times oiused me to weep freely. But perhaps when the 
 morning returned, all was forgotten. Although I resolved at 
 some future time to be religious, (for I supposed I could be
 
 MEMOIR OF THE REV. THOMAS BALDWIN, D. D. 
 
 373 
 
 religious at any time) yet I never fixed that time as near at 
 hand. There always appeared some peculiar obstacles ia 
 the way, and some sinful propensities to be indulged, before 
 I could" think of being religious. Thus I lived from year to 
 year, in a state of awt'ul security and forgetfulness of God. 
 
 " My conscience frequently accused me of the sinfulness 
 of my heart and conduct ; but such were the charms of plea- 
 sure, that I could not persuade myself to give them up. Yet 
 while in this vain pursuit after the pleasures of the world, I 
 was often forced to serious reflection. At times, I appeared 
 to myself to be awfully hardened, and have thought, when 
 walking or riding alone on a dark evening, that I really 
 wished a light from heaven to shine around me as it did 
 around Saul, when on his way to Damascus. At other times, 
 1 liave had such a sense of my miserable condition, that I 
 thought I should be willing to suffer a severe fit of sickness, 
 if it might be the means of bringing me to God. These 
 feelings were, however, only transient, and the moment they 
 subsided, the same rage for vanity would return. 
 
 " One reason which induced me to be willing to suffer 
 sickness or some other calamity from the hand of God, was 
 a foolish dread of what the world would say of me. ' How,' 
 said I to myself, ' should I become religious, could I hold 
 up my head before any of my young companions, who might 
 inquire what was the occasion of my being so dull.' I 
 thought I could never have fortitude enough to tell them I 
 was concerned about my precious soul. What a pitiful ex- 
 cuse for living in sin !" 
 
 Here we trust we shall be excused for interrupting for a 
 moment the course of this interrosting narrative, to remark 
 how simple and affecting a discovery is here made of the 
 depravity of the human heart, and its total alienation from 
 God. We see how a man can be perfectly convinced of the 
 reality of religion, of his obligations to God, and of the con- 
 sequences of disobedience, and yet live in wilful neglect of 
 every duty; pursuing tlie course which he knows the Eternal 
 God has forbidden, because if he did otherwise, man might 
 laugh at him. Well did the Saviour say of such men, " I 
 know you that ye have not the love of God in you;" and 
 aptly did he allude to one great cause of their disobedience, 
 in that question, " How can ye believe, who receive honour 
 one of another]" And \vc would ask, Do not the preceding 
 
 a:2
 
 574 »IEMOIR OF THE REV. THOMAS UALDWIN, P. D. 
 
 paragraphs delineate very exactly the moral condition of 
 many of our readers, and of a very large portion of those 
 who, with very respectful attention, hoar the gospel every 
 Sabbath day ? But to resume the narrative : — 
 
 " In the month of November, 1777, God in his holy 
 providence was pleased to take from me my first-born by 
 death ; a dear little son between six and seven months old. 
 This painful event was rendered more distressing, both to 
 me and my dear companion, by the circumstance of my being 
 absent at the time. I had left my family right or ten days 
 before, all in usual health; and when having accomplisiKul 
 my business, and returning home, was met by a friend, who 
 informed me that my child was dead and buried. 
 
 "As oppressed with grief 1 rode silently homew.ird, the 
 thought struck me — ' Tliis is the voice of God to call me to 
 repentance. AV'hat excuse can I now havel Under the ap- 
 pearance of mourning for my child, I may become religious, 
 and no one will know it.' Accordingly I set myself about 
 it, and for the first time, attempted to pray in my family. I 
 felt very solemn, and thought I was very sincere. I concluded 
 I sliould never more yield my heart to vanity as I had done 
 before. My devotion was continued morning and evening; 
 and I believe for the space of two or three weeks, I was 
 never seen to smile. I remend)er that once I felt much 
 remorse, after having, in an unguarded moment, been sur- 
 j)rised into laughter. At the same time indulging serious 
 reflections, I was not unfrequently much affected. But, alas ! 
 it was only the sorrow of tlie world. The impression made 
 upon my mind by the death of a darling babe, began gradu- 
 ally to wear away. In a little time my seriousness was gone, 
 and I returned to my wonted cheerfulness and gaiety. 
 
 " All that now remained of my seriousness that had the 
 a])pearance of religion was, a mere lifeless formality in 
 prayer. I look back with shame and remorse to this period 
 of my life, when, notwithstanding my constant but unmeaning 
 prayers, I lived in the eager pursuit of the vanities of the 
 world, only with perhaps a little more concealment than I 
 had fornuM-ly done. I had early indjibod a thirst for honour. 
 I knew this could not be gratified without preserving a fair 
 reputation. But such was my love of gay company, mirth, 
 and dancing, that I went as far as my respect lor character 
 would at all pi rmit. I tremble to think of the temptations
 
 MEMOIR OF TII!i UEV. THOMAS IJALDWIX, D. D. 375 
 
 and snares which then besot my path. But for the restrain- 
 ing; power of a merciful (»o(l, 1 liad certainly been ruined. 
 
 " In the summer of 1780, my mind became at times very 
 uneasy. I had serious thoughts about religion, yet did not 
 feel determined to set about it in earnest. I had a decided 
 conviction that there must be a change of heart, or all the 
 outward forms of religion would be unavailing. I would 
 often ask myself, Wiiat is meant by being born again ? I 
 remember once having attempted to take refuge in this. 
 It is said, Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is 
 born of God. I believe that Jesus is the Christ ; am I not 
 therefore born of God ] But I perceived that my belief liarl 
 no effect either upon my heart or life. 1 was also fully 
 aware that Clu'istians possessed something of which I was 
 destitute. They told of joys and sorrows which I had never 
 felt. 
 
 " In tlie month of September, God in his holy providence 
 sent two Baptist preachers into the town. They preached 
 several lectures, and spent one Lord's day in the neighbour- 
 hood. Several persons appeared greatly alarmed by their 
 preaching. I thought they were good men, but too illiterate 
 to edity me. I however felt very solemnly under their 
 preaching, and perceived that others felt yet more than 
 myself. Some professors of religion were very much aroused, 
 and several young persons were very deeply impressed." 
 
 Dr. Baldwin proceeds to mention the increased solemnity 
 which rested upon his mind whilst attending several religions 
 meetings, which were held about this time in the neighbour- 
 hood. The narrative then continues : — " In the evening 
 there was to be a conference at a private house. I attended. 
 The meeting was opened l)y prayer ; after which two persons 
 came forward and told what God had done for their souls. 
 One of them, a sensil)le and well informed man, gave a very 
 striking account of his conversion to God. Almost the whole 
 assembly was in tears. I felt very tenderly, but in a great 
 measure refrained from weeping. Soon, however, after this 
 a moving scene conmienced. A very pious man came, and 
 falling down on his knees before me, addressed me as fol- 
 lows : — ' Neighbour Baldwin, can you forgive me, can you 
 forgive me, that I have lived so little like a Christian, and 
 that I have set no better an example before you ]' I trcm- 
 blt'd like Felix, and replied, ' I have nothing against you
 
 376 
 
 MEMOIR OF THE REV. THOMAS BALDWIN, D. D. 
 
 more than I tiave against my own soul.' He followed these 
 remarks with the most solemn entreaties and feeling exhor- 
 tations to turn unto God and live. Allliousih in my proud 
 heart I had resolved never to shed a tear in puhlic, all my 
 resolutions were utterly unavailing. In spite of every effort, 
 I trembled and wept, and changed my seat to avoid obser- 
 vation. My extreme agitation, however, soon discovered 
 itself. Several persons spoke to me ; many rejoiced and 
 many wor^j; affected at seeing that my mind was impressed. 
 When asked to state my feelings, I could only say with 
 Agur, ' I am more brutish than any man, and have not the 
 understanding of a man.' I thought I earnestly desired con- 
 version ; but how to attain it, how to obtain an interest in 
 Christ, I did not know. I at first apprehended I should in 
 some way have a discovery of Christ on the cross, and that 
 this would give me comfort. Again I thought I was now so 
 distressed, that God would soon give me relief. I cried; 
 but, alas! all seemed in vain. 
 
 " Although I had continued my cold, pharisaical prayers 
 from the time before mentioned, yet till this night I had 
 never conversed with my famil}- on the subject of personal 
 religion. But now I entered with seriousness into the sub- 
 ject ; and after disclosing my feelings, expressed ni}' resolu- 
 tion, that let others do what they would, I was determined 
 to seek the Lord. 1 found nuich tenderness in attempting 
 to pray before retiring to rest. I had some concern lest 
 these impressions should leave me, and my mind become yet 
 more hardened than before. I awoke before the day dawned, 
 aad found my mind still deeply impressed. I cannot say as 
 many have, that I strove to shake oft' my convictions ; on 
 the contrary, my great anxiety was to increase them ; for 
 this was the way in which I was looking for deliverance. 
 My distress continuing day and night, 1 began to hope that 
 God had begun tlie work, and that he would carry it on. 
 At times I experienced great tenderness, and often both in 
 public and private wept bitterly. 
 
 " I was satisfied that my prayers were exceedingly de- 
 fective. They appeared so sinful, that I tiionght God would 
 not regard them. IJut as Christians appeared to be in 
 earnest for me, at times I was encouraged to believe that 
 God would hear them in my behalf. Although 1 was not 
 called by name, yet I thought I knew when they presented
 
 MEMOIR OF THE REV. THOMAS BALDWIN, D. D. 3"/ 7 
 
 my case before the Lord.* At one of these seasons of prayer, 
 it seemed to me that my case was wholly neglected. 1 was 
 ready to say with David, ' Refuge faileth me, and no man 
 careth for my soul.' I concluded that if the saints were not 
 permitted to pray for me, my case was desperate. Despon- 
 dency seized me, and I began to fear that all was over with 
 my soul. Yet at times I could not but hope, that God would 
 at some time or other bring me out of this distress, and that 
 I should yet praise him. 
 
 " My distress did not arise so much from the fear of j)iin- 
 ishment, as from a sense of having abused divine goodness 
 and mercy. All my hopes from any thing in myself seemed 
 to vanish. T had been accustomed to think that 1 was not 
 so great a sinner as some others, because I had been addicted 
 to no degrading vice. But I now saw that my morality, fair 
 as it had appeared, was most wretchedly defective; and that 
 my prayers had been no better than solemn mockery. I 
 greatly feared that my repentance was not genuine ; that it 
 would ultimately prove no more than the workings of a natural 
 heart writhing under the lashings of conscience. Often would 
 I say, What shall I do to be saved 1 How can I come to 
 Christ? O that some man would guide me ! Thus I went 
 mourning from day to day as without the light of the sun. 
 The world had lost its charms. The pleasures that had 
 heretofore appeared so fascinating, now seemed so extremely 
 insipid, that I wondered I could ever haye thought so highly 
 of them. They not only appeared empty and trifling, but to 
 a great degree disgusting. 
 
 " After spending an anxious and almost sleepless night, I 
 arose just after the dawning of the day, and resolved once 
 more to pray. I said with Jonah, ' I will look again towards 
 his holy temple.' I knelt down, and in a few broken sen- 
 tences, tried to send my cries to the mercy-seat. 1 felt con- 
 vinced that I had done nothing to merit the divine favour. 
 
 * In this supposition it is prob.iblo tiiat tlie author was not mistaken. 
 An aged minister by whom Dr. Baldwin was Ijaptized, once mentioned 
 that several Cliristians in the neifflibouriiood, ol)serving his prominent 
 talents and amialtle disposition, liad agreed togetlier to make his conver- 
 pion a special subject of prayer. This agreement was formed while he 
 was yet thoughtless, and we may well suppose that their desires were 
 fitrengtheiied when ihev saw so pleasing a hope of their fullilmeut. 
 
 d-2*
 
 378 MEMOIR OF THE REV. THOMAS BALDWIN, D. D. 
 
 nor could I do any tiling, though I were eternally to perish. 
 This I thought I confessed to the Lord ; and as my last re- 
 fuge, endeavoured to cast myself upon the mercy of God. 
 During this day I felt less anxiety than I had done for many 
 days before. Sometimes I hoped I had given myself to God, 
 and sometimes I feared that my convictions were wearing 
 off, and that I should return again unto folly. 
 
 " Just in the twilight of the same day, I had occasion to 
 walk, to a neighbour's house about a quarter of a mile distant. 
 As I walked, a new train of thought occupied my mind. How 
 happy, thougiit I, are the angels! They are happy because 
 they are holy, and have never sinned. How unhappy I am 
 on account of sin ! ]My thoughts now ran back to Adam in 
 the garden. I thought I would have given tlie world, had it 
 been at my command, if he had never sinned ; then 1 should 
 not have been a sinner. But I now felt myself a dreadful 
 sinner, and could see no way by which I could be made holy. 
 At the same time I was convinced, that unless I were made 
 holy, I could never be made happy. It appeared that I had 
 a great something to do ; what it was, or how to do if, I knew 
 not. Immediately as I walked, this passage of scripture came 
 powerfully into m\' mind, — ' Behold the Lamb of God, 
 which takcth away the sin of the world.' A gleam of hopu 
 seemed to come from these words. But I thought the}' were 
 only words wliich I had read, and were now suggested by my 
 imagination. They seemed to be repeated the second time, 
 • — ' Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of 
 the world.' The effect was overwhelming. In an instant, 
 the great plan of mercy, througli the atonement of Ciirisf, 
 was astonishingly opened to my view. He apjieared to bo 
 just such a Saviour as I needed. I saw that by his atone- 
 ment he had (so far as an atonement could do it) ' taken 
 aicay the sin of the ivorld.' What, said I to niyself, is it 
 oidy to believe in Jesus Christ in order to be saved? It ap- 
 peared almost too free and loo glorious. It seemed impossi- 
 ble that it should be true. But the more I reflected, the 
 more clear it appeared that this was the gos|)el method of 
 salvation. I could not hel|) taking hold of it, and thought I 
 saw in it a glorious consistency with the attributes of God. 
 
 " My mind now became calm, but not transported. It 
 occurred to me that this was not such a conversion as I had 
 been looking for. I had expected my distress to be increased,
 
 MEMOIR OF THE REV. THOMAS BALDWIN, D. D. 379 
 
 until I should see myself liangine, as it were, over everlasting 
 burnings, and tiiat then I siiould have some discovery of the 
 Saviour; hut in what way I knew not. Those sweet v.ords 
 would still recur to my mind, — ' Behold the Lamb of God, 
 which taketh away the sin of the world.' The gracious in- 
 vitations of the gospel, such as Isaiah Iv. 1. ' llo, every one 
 that thirstelh, come ye to the waters ; and he that hath no 
 money, come; yea, come, buy wine and milk, without money 
 and without price,' appeared exceedingly precious. T!ie 
 more I rellected, the Hiore 1 was lost in wonder and aston- 
 ishment in contemplating the riches of grace. The Saviour 
 now began to appear precious to me. Yet I was exceed- 
 ingly afraid that 1 should be deceived. 
 
 " A short time afterwards, being asked at a conference 
 meeting to relate my religious feelings, 1 complied; and 
 though honestly, yet with much fear and trembling, 1 pro- 
 ceeded to state what I had experienced. Christians rejoiced, 
 and anxious sinners wej)t. I was called upon in the course 
 of the evening to pray. I attempted, and was blessed with 
 some degree of freedom. Seeing some [)ersons who had 
 been for some time anxious, I could not refrain from address- 
 ing them. They were asking, ' What shall we do to be 
 saved r I replied, ' Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and 
 you shall be saved.' I then thought that I could tell them so, 
 that they would believe. But after stating to them my views 
 of that wonderful declaration, — ' Behold the Lamb of God, 
 Mhich taketh away the sin of the world,' I could not perceive 
 that iJiey were aO'ected by it. It seemed to me that every 
 one now could believe, and I wondered that I had never be- 
 lieved before. I seldom afterwards attended meeting with- 
 out taking some part in the public exercises, until I was 
 solemnly set apart to the work of the ministiy. 
 
 " It may be proper here to observe, that previous to my 
 religious concern, I had, with the advice of several friends, 
 determined to enter upon the study of the law. Two gentle- 
 men, one of whom had been States' Attorney in Connecticut, 
 the other a practitioner in law, kindly engaged me their as- 
 sistance, and furnished me with books. I had already read 
 a number, and was reading Blackstone's Commentaries, when 
 my attention was arrested. I was obliged to lay them aside, 
 but with the expectation of resuming them after my impres- 
 sions had subsided. I uiadc several attempts to resume theiu.
 
 380 MEMOIR OF THE HEV. THOMAS BALDWIN, D. D. 
 
 but now found it utterly in vain. My attention was wholly 
 engrossed with another subject, although I do not recollect 
 that I thought of preaching. I have since, however, had 
 reason to believe that the impression was very general upon 
 the minds of the people, that I should at some time or other 
 become a minister of the gospel. As there was no settled 
 minister in the town at this time, I was constantly called 
 upon to take some part in all the religious meetings. I how- 
 ever felt a great diffidence in speaking, unless when requested 
 by some of the older brethren. 
 
 " j\ot long after I had obtained a hope of an interest in 
 Christ, when meditating on the character of the Saviour, these 
 words were impressed very forcibly on my mind, ' These are 
 they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.' I was 
 struck with the thought, and wished that I might be one of 
 them, for they seemed to me to be peculiarly blessed. But 
 the question immediately occurred, ' Where has the Saviour 
 gone as an example fur his people to follow V I was first led 
 to view him coming from Galilee to Jordan, to be baptized of 
 John in Jordan. I at once said to myself, I cannot follow 
 him in this, nor am I required to. I have been already de- 
 voted to God in infancy; therefore this part of Christ's ex- 
 ample can have no claim upon my obedience. Still the 
 words followed me, — ' These are they which follow the Lamb 
 whithersoever he goeth.' I at length resolved prayerfully to 
 search the New Testament, with, I trust, a heart breathing 
 the language of the apostle, ' Lord, what wilt thou have me 
 to do?' 
 
 " I had been educated in the principles, and what I now 
 consider the prejudices of the Congregationalists. I had read 
 little on the baptismal controversy, except ' Dickenson's 
 Divine Right of Infiint Baptism.' This work had been re- 
 printed witii a preface by eight Congregational ministers of 
 the then town of Norwich, one of whom was my great uncle, 
 under whose instructions 1 had been brought up. I thought 
 very hiidily of the work, and had read it with much attention 
 more than once, in order to furnish myself with arguments in 
 favour of infant baptism. These arguments had satisfied my 
 mind until now, when I read the scriptures with diflerent 
 feelings. [ wished to be candid, and to receive the truth 
 wherever I might find it. But after all, when I perceived 
 that the evidence appeared against my former sentiments,
 
 MEaiOIR OF THE UEV. THOMAS HALUWIX, D. D. 381 
 
 and in favour of the baptism of believing adults only, it re- 
 quired an amazing struggle to surrender tlie point. 1 con- 
 cealed my conflicts from all my Baptist friends, but unbosonv- 
 ed n)yself freely to several Pedobajitist ministers, boping that 
 they might be able to remove my dirficulties. But all of llum 
 proved jiliysicians of no value. 1 had fully resolved to follow 
 the truth wheresoever I might find it. I well knew, more- 
 over, that all my earthly connexions were decided Pedo- 
 baptists. I endeavoured to count the cost, and thei.gh I 
 should forfeit their friendship, felt determined to follow the 
 dictates of my own conscience. 
 
 " During my unsettled state of mind, a respectable Con- 
 gregational minister visited and lodged at my house. In tho 
 course of the evening, he introduced the subject of his visit, 
 ■which was, he said, to invite me to offer myself a candidate 
 for examination before the Association to which he belonged, 
 with a view to my being licensed to preach the gosi)cl in their 
 fellowship. But being so far convinced of the coriectness of 
 the distinguishing sentiments of the Baptists, I thought it im- 
 proper to take any step until my mind should be decided. I 
 thanked him for hij- friendly invitation; I'ut frankly told him 
 the state of my mind. I requested him, if he thought I was 
 in dansxcr of embracing an error, to endeavour to reclaim 
 me. With this view, I requested him to tell me where to 
 find a warrant for infant baptism. He immediately referred 
 to Genesis xvii. and went at large into the ordinary argu- 
 ment founded upon the Abrahamic covenant. After convers- 
 ing till a late hour, I informed him that I had hojied he would 
 have convinced me that infant baptism was right; but was 
 sorry to sa}', he had entirely failed. My conscience still pre- 
 ponderated towards the opinions of the Baptists. 'Sir,' said 
 I, ' in this case, what shall I do ?' ' AVhy,' said he, ' if wo 
 cannot agree to think alike, we must agree to differ.' Wa 
 united in prayer, and retired to rest. 
 
 " Previously to my baptism, I visited my friends at Nor- 
 wich, Connecticut. I then took an opportunity of conversing 
 with my former venerable pastor. Ife received me very 
 kindly; and when at his request I related my religious exer- 
 cises, was quite melted into tears. But wIkmi, towards tho 
 close of the evening, lie suspected from some of my inquiries, 
 that ni}' mind was not established in the doctrines of I'edo- 
 baptism, he remarked to me, in rather a stern tone of voice,
 
 532 MEMOIR op THE REV. THOMAS BALDWIX, D. D. 
 
 ' Well, Thomas, if you renounce your infant baptism, and 
 are re-baptized, I shall reprobate you, notwithstanding all 
 that you liave told me.'* I was much sliocked at the remark, 
 and after a moment's silence, replied, ' I hofie. Sir, I shall 
 be directed to do what is right.' Thus we parted, perhaps 
 with mutual dissatisfaction. 
 
 " He put into my hand, at parting, ' Wall's Abridgment 
 of his History of Infant Baptism.' But all the help I derived 
 from this was, to be confunied in what I had before feared 
 was true. Dr. Wall unhesitatingly acknowledges that the 
 primitive mode of baptism was immersion, and blames tho 
 Presbyterians for changing it into sprinkling. Neither during 
 my inquiries nor before them, had I ever seen a jiage written 
 b\' the Baptists, except a small pamj^hlet written by S.Wilson, 
 entitled ' A Scri[)ture Manual.' This I had read many years 
 before. I once told a Bajnist minister that I wished to have 
 some conversation with him respecting baptism, as I had 
 some doubts in my mind on that subject. He replied, ' Do 
 you only read your Bible, and you will do well enough.' I 
 thought the advice correct, and determined to follow' it. And; 
 whether now right or wrong, I can only say, that the Bible 
 and my own conscience compelled me to be what I am. In 
 the latter part of the summer of 1781, I was baptized by the 
 llev. Elisha Ransom, then of Woodstock, Vermont. 
 
 " From my constantly speaking in public, 1 began to fear 
 being suspected of aspiring to become a preacher. This im- 
 j)ression I studiously laboured to prevent. An ardent desire 
 for the salvation of immortal souls on the one hand, and, on 
 the other, a consciousness of my want of those acquirements 
 which I considered necessary to qualify me for the work, 
 kept me for some time in a state of perplexity. 
 
 " It may not be improper here to mention a remarkable 
 season of prayer, which I once at this time enjoyed. [If 
 these lines should ever meet the eye of any other person, I 
 liope that what I am to relate will not be imimtcd to vanity 
 or egotism. ' Behold, before God I lie not.'] While tho 
 
 * It is pleasing to record, thnt tlic cood old iiinn did not execute his 
 threat. After Dr. Haidwiii h:id Ix'couki :i 15;i|)tist iiiinistfr, his accd rela- 
 tive treatod him witli <;rc:it Ivimlwcs*, invited hiiii to prcu li in his pulpit. 
 and Indeed to llic t'losc of his lilc muiiifesled lovvuidii hiinlhc most jiarcu- 
 ktl alttiutiuu.
 
 MtMOIU OF THE REV. THOMAS BAIvDAVIN, D. D. 3S3 
 
 subject of preaching was yet undctermiiied in my mind, after 
 sermon one Lord's day, as was tiien customary, a brother 
 present, who was far gone in consuniptioii, addressed the 
 people in a very aflecling exhortation; after which I was 
 recpiested to pray. I engaged — but it is impossible for me 
 to describe the scone which opened to my view. Soon after 
 I began to speak, my soul appeared drawn out in an uncom- 
 mon degree towards God, and the ecstacy i)f joy that I then 
 felt, was absolutely indescribable and full of glory. For a 
 fiiw moments, I aiiprehended I was about to ipiit tlic bodv. 
 Words llowed as it were without an ellbrt of thought. My 
 language and conceptions appeared uncommonly elevated. 
 When I had closed and opened my eyes, I perceived the 
 assembly almost all in tears. One man cried out in an an- 
 guish of soul, ' I am undoncP Some others, who had re- 
 mained in a hardened, stupid state until now, were trembling 
 and weeping. These impressions with some, I have reason 
 to hopp, terminated in saving conversion to God. 
 
 " This gracious manifestation of divine mercy and- good- 
 ness to me was accompanied with a peculiar peace and calm- 
 ness of mind. It was indeed that peace of God which passctli 
 all understanding. It was a season never to be forgotten, 
 whilst memory holds a place in my breast. It had, more- 
 over, a considerable effect in reconciling me to devote myself 
 to the work of the ministry. In the days of my vanity, I had 
 never looked forward to any appointment witli such intense 
 desire as I now waited the return of the holy Sabbath, that 
 I might meet with the children of God, and tell my fellow- 
 sinners the blessedness there is in believing. 
 
 " The winter succeeding, we were favoured with a re- 
 freshing season. Several were, as we hoped, brought hom« 
 to God; among them one, who has since become a minister 
 of our denomination. The church continued united in lov'e, 
 and additions were made from time fo time of such as we 
 trust shall be saved. 
 
 " Although I had generally conducted the religious exer- 
 cises in most of our public meetings, yet it was not until 
 August of 178"i, that I attempted to take a text, and preach 
 doctrinally and methodically. The news soon circulated 
 widely, that I had begun to preach ; and the next Sabbath 
 many collected from most of the neight)0uring towns. Our 
 assemblies were full and attcntiv(\ and the prospect highly 
 encouraging, and thus in general it continued.
 
 5S4 MEMOIR OF THE REV. THOMAS BALDWIN', D. D. 
 
 " In the spring of 17S3, the cluirch invited me to receive 
 ordination. I consented to be ordained, bnt not as the 
 pastor of that particidar church. It was, however, under- 
 stood that 1 should perform the duties of a pastor so long as 
 I should think, it proper to stay with them. A meeting was 
 tlien called, and the subject laid before the town. They 
 unanimously voted to concur \\ith the church, and pre- 
 sented a call on their part. Arrangements were accordingly 
 made, and a council conTcned in Canaan, on the 11th of 
 June, 17c?3, at which time I was publicly ordained to the 
 work of an evangelist. Rev. Samuel Siiepiiard, of Brent- 
 wood, New-Hampshire, preached on the occasion from 2 
 Cor. iv. 7. Rev. Elisha Ransom, of Woodstock, Vermont, 
 gave the charge, and Rer. Samuel Amorose, of Sutton, 
 New-Hampshire, gave the right hand of fellowship. Some 
 other ministering brethren also assisted on the occasion. 
 
 " The church enjoyed as great a degree of harmony as 
 commonly falls to the lot of churches in the age in which we 
 live. Additions were from time to time made, until our 
 number amounted to seventy. A considerable portion of 
 those were from the adjacent towns. 
 
 " I continued my labours with this church seven years, 
 during which time, though principally at home on the Sab- 
 bath, I spent much of the intervening time in visting and 
 preaching in the destitute parts of the surrounding country. 
 There were few towns within the space of fifty miles round, 
 in which I did not occasionally preach. 
 
 " In this warfare, I went chiefly at my own charges. 
 Some few churches, however, whicli I visited by appoint- 
 ment of the Association, made me some compensation, and 
 some individuals made me small presents ; but I do not re- 
 collect, that during the whole of this period, in all my jour- 
 neyings, I ever received a public contribution. I usually 
 met with a kind reception from Christians of all denomina- 
 tions; and besides receiving their decided aj)probation, often, 
 (juitc often received the following benediction, with a hearty 
 pressure of the hand at parting, — ' The Lord bless you, 
 brother; such men as you will never want.' 
 
 " My mode of travelling was on horseback. In pursuing 
 my appointments, I had often to climb the ragged mountain, 
 and descend the deep ravine. These exchanges, from rocky 
 steeps to dismal swamps, were far from unfrcquent at that
 
 MEMOin OF TIIi: KEY. THOMAS nALDAVIX, P. D. 365 
 
 early period of the settlement of this part of our country. 
 The roads arc since so improved, that it would be difficult to 
 persuade tlie traveller now-a-days that they had ever been 
 us bad as the early settlers represent. 
 
 " The people were not, however, so much wanting in 
 kindness, as in the means of assisting a travelling minister. 
 As for silver and gold, the greater part of them had none. 
 The cause for this scarcity of n)oney arose from the particular 
 circumstances of the times. At the close of the revolutionary 
 war, the continental currency, which had before depreciated 
 to almost nothing, ceased. The little silver that remained 
 in the cofl'ers of the rich, was with much reluctance permitted 
 to be drawn from its long sequestered concealment. It hence 
 often happened, that the travelling preacher must either beg 
 or go hungry, if he happened to travel where he was not 
 known. This, however, did not very frequently fall to my 
 lot. I am, however, well aware, that mankind in general are 
 much more likely to remember a single circumstance of afllic- 
 tion, though the suffering be ever so short, than many mercies 
 of long continuance." 
 
 We have thus far followed the manuscript with scarcely 
 any alteration or abridgment. On the interesting topics to 
 which it refers, the conversion of its author, his change of 
 sentiments on the subject of baptism, and his call to the 
 Christian ministry, we felt it our duty to allow him to speak 
 for himself. In doing this, we doubt not that we have per- 
 formed a most grateful service to our readers. There is 
 always a charm about a narrative, in which a man declares 
 what he himself hf>s seen and felt, which a narration written 
 in the third person can never acquire. And besides this, 
 there is in the memoir above,, so many traits of genuine 
 Christian simplicity, so well executed a delineation of the 
 workings of the human heart in many of its most interesting 
 attitudes, that it can scarcely be read without lively and 
 peculiar interest. Instead, therefore, of apologizing for its 
 length, we are persuaded that the wish will be general that it 
 were longer. 
 
 The remainder of the narrative is not, however, so well 
 adapted for a memoir of this nature. It contains many inci- 
 dents interesting to the author and to his particular friends, 
 but which might not so generally interest a miscellaneous 
 public. We shall therefore leave the latter part of it, and 
 
 33
 
 336 MEMOIR OP THE REV. THOMAS BALDWIN, D. tj. 
 
 only use it to supply us with such facts, and occasionally with 
 such reflections, as may throw light upon the character of its 
 author. 
 
 It will he readily perceived from what has been stated 
 above, that the labours of Dr. Baldwin in Canaan must have 
 been excessively severe. His reputation as a preacher was 
 such, that his assistance was very frequently required at or- 
 dinations and councils in all the surrounding country; and 
 besides, the destitute condition of many of tiie neighbouring 
 settlements presented innumerable claims upon his Christian 
 sympathies. To all these calls he unhesitatingly yielded 
 himself up. In the narrative before alluded to, after relating 
 the events of one of these journeys of an hundred miles from 
 home in the dead of winter, in whicii he had suffered much 
 from cold and something from hunger, and had been engaged 
 in almost daily preaching, he concludes with the following 
 reflections. We insert them as a happy illustration of the 
 tone of his piety, and also of the honourable disinterestedness 
 for which he was always distinguished. 
 
 " During this tedious journey, I had sufiered some little 
 inconveniencies, but enjoyed much comfort in my own soul. 
 O what an honour to be engaged in so good a cause, and to 
 serve so glorious a Master! Like him, for the joy that is set 
 before me, may I ever be willing to endure the cross, and 
 despise the shame, continually looking unto Jesus, the author 
 and finisher of my faith." 
 
 " It has often afforded me much consolation to reflect on 
 ■what Christ said to his disciples, when one of them said, ' Lo, 
 we have left all and followed thee ;' and he said unto them, 
 * Verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house, 
 or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children for the kingdom 
 of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this 
 present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.' I 
 have never been able to discern any worldly motive which 
 could have had any influence in making mc a Baptist. I had 
 literally to forsake, (in point of sentiment.) all my earthly 
 friends, all my expectations of honour, and I may also say, of 
 vcalth. When I was settled in the ministry, it was without 
 any stipulated salary whatever; and during the seven years 
 which I spent with the church where 1 was first settled, the 
 whole of my salary would not avcrnc^p, forty dollars a year! 
 Hence I may say with the apostle, ' These hands have min-
 
 MEMOIR OF THE REV. THOMAS BALDWIN, D. D. 387 
 
 istered to my necessities and those that were with nie.' I 
 would have gladly devoted myself wholly to the work, could 
 I have seen any way in which my family could have been 
 supported." 
 
 It could not be expected that a minister of Dr. Baldwin's 
 native talent, and we may now add, celebrity, should be 
 destined to labour for life amid the sparse population of am 
 almost frontier settlement. The event proved, that by this 
 severe discipline. Providence had been preparing him for a 
 field of more extensive usefulness. Towards the close of the 
 winter of 1790, the Baptist church in Sturbridge, Massachu- 
 setts, understanding that he was not confined by his ordina- 
 tion to the people in Canaan, applied to him to visit them as 
 a candidate for settlement. After some hesitation, the church 
 in Canaan granted him liberty to visit Sturbridge, and pro- 
 mised, that if after due deliberation he should consider it his 
 duty to remove thither, they would furnish him with letters of 
 dismission and recommendation. 
 
 About the same time, he also received a letter from the 
 church in Hampton, Connecticut, containing a similar request. 
 And while on his journey to visit these places, early in the 
 summer of the same year, he received an invitation to visit 
 the Second Baptist Church in Boston, which had just before 
 been deprived by death of their excellent pastor, the Rev. Mr. 
 Gair. After visiting Sturbridge and Hampton, and receiv- 
 ing from both churches an unanimous invitation to become 
 their pastor, Dr. Baldwin continued his journey to Boston.; 
 and in compliance with the request of the church, preached 
 his first sermon to them July 4, 1790. 
 
 In the beginning of August, some indications of a revival 
 began to appear in the congregation. These daily increased, 
 until a very considerable number were heard with deep solem- 
 nity to inquire. What shall we do to be saved ? The interest 
 excited by his public labours, was very general ; and on the 
 2*2d of August, the Church and Society, by an unanimous 
 vote, invited him to become their pastor. 
 
 As we have before stated, Dr. Baldwin had previously re- 
 ceived an invitation to become the pastor of the Baptist 
 church in Hampton, Connecticut, and also another from tlie 
 church in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. With the appearance 
 of this latter society, he was much pleased, and for some time 
 thought that he should probably settle with thein. Two con-
 
 388 MEMOIR OP THE REV. THOMAS BALDiriX, D. D. 
 
 sideration?, however, had an influence in determining his 
 mind to Boston. One was, that he wished to reside where 
 he could give iiimself wholly to the work. Tiiis was the 
 groat object for which he wislied to remove at all. For this, 
 Boston appeared the most eligible situation. He perceived 
 that here nothin:; vras expected but what belonged to parochial 
 concerns. This to him was a most desirable consideration. 
 Connected with this, the special attention which appeared 
 among the young people at this time had great weight upon 
 his mind. He sincerely believed that there was a greater 
 prospect of usefulness there than in any country town ^^ hat- 
 soever. Besides these considerations it may he remarked, 
 that a striking coincidence of events connected with his first 
 coming to Boston, seemed to point out the path of duty too 
 plainly to be mistaken. Under these circumstances, though 
 with much trembling, he gave, on the ISth of September, 
 1790, an aflirmative answer to the invitation. 
 
 Dr. Baldwin was in consequence installed on the 11th of 
 November following. Tbft servicps wcro performed in the 
 meeting-house of the Rev. Dr. Eliot, which was kindly 
 oflered for the purpose. The Kev. Dr. Stillman, then 
 pastor of the first Baptist church in Boston, preached from 
 2 Cor. iv. 7 — '' Furrve have this treasure in earthen vessels, 
 that the excellency of the power may he of God and not of 
 lis. The Rev. Dr. Smith, of Haverhill, delivered the charge; 
 the Rev. Thomas Gkekn, of Cambridge, presented the 
 right hand of fellowship ; and the Rev. Josri'h Guafton, of 
 Newton, the venerable and the only survivor, offered the 
 concluding prayer. The day was pleasant, tlie services 
 highly interesting, and the assembly numerous and respect- 
 able.* 
 
 We arc now called to contemplate the subject of this me- 
 moir under circumstances very diflerent iVom those with 
 which his ministry commenced. From the frontier settlements 
 of New-Hampshire, where almost the whole of liis life had 
 been spent, he was removed at once to the centre of a polite 
 and literary metropolis, and was placed by the side of men 
 
 ' Dr. naliUvin's discourse preiiclicd on the first Raljliatli in Jniniary, 
 1824; with uu Appendix, containing an Historical Sketch of the Church 
 and Society.
 
 MEMOIR OF TUB UEV. THOMAS DA.LOWIN, D. D. 389 
 
 wliose praise had lonjr been in all the churclies, and whose 
 lives hud been davoted to academic learning. Probably the 
 pulpits of Boston have never since been more ably lilled. 
 Dis. Latukop, Eliot, IIoward, Belknap, and Tiiacukr 
 wore tho minister* of the Congregational churches, and Dr. 
 St£ll.va\, probably the most eloquent and most universally 
 beloved clergyman that Boston has ever seen, was his imme- 
 diate fellow-labourer. His early advantages for education 
 weru, as wo have seen, but scanty. Constant labour had 
 L'ft hiiu but little opportunit\' to improve them, lie was now 
 thirt3'-eight years of age ; a time of life beyond which men do 
 nut generally make much advancement in knowledge. All 
 the resources upon which, depending on the grace of God, he 
 could rely in ihie arduous situation, were sincere desires to 
 be useful, native vigour of mind, a fixed resolution to jirepare 
 himself for the duties to which Providence had called him, 
 and, we may adtl, a store of sound reflections on theology, aa 
 intuitive knowledge of human nature, and sagacity in remark- 
 ing the workings of the human heart. 
 
 For this situation, Dr. Baldwin proved himself manifestly 
 eqaal. And his success at least proves one thing, that a man 
 of sense is at home any where. Ho here commenced that 
 course of judicious theological and critical study, which laid 
 the foundation of his extensive reputation, and which enabled 
 him not only to serve the church in the pidpit, but also still 
 more extensively to illustrate and defend her doctrines 
 through the medium of the press. 
 
 The ministry of Dr. Baldwin was at its commencement in_ 
 Boston unusually blest. The revival which began whilst he 
 was preaching as a candidate, continued without much inter- 
 ruption for two years. To the second and first Baptist 
 churches more than one hundred were added during- the year 
 171)0. In 1791, atlditions were made every month, sometimes 
 to the number of nearly twenty. The whole number added 
 to the second church this year was about seventy. 
 
 At tho time of Dr. Baldwin's installation, the number of 
 members whose names were recorded on the books of the 
 church was ninety. Of these, many were unknown, and had 
 been long forgotten. The present number of the church is 
 about four hundred and fifty. During Dr. Baldwin's minis- 
 try, he baptized more than six hundred and seventy, who 
 wero the fruits of his miaistrv in Boston. 
 
 33*
 
 390 MEMOIR OF THE REV. THOMAS BALDWIN', D. D. 
 
 Of his life, from the time of his settlement to his death, 
 very few records are extant. The history of a clergyman, 
 who devotes himself to the appropriate labours of his offic**, 
 is of course barren of incidents which would interest the 
 world. It is the plain and reiterated account of studies, and 
 visits, and conversations, and preaching, in which week after 
 Aveek has in rapid succession been consumed. His world is 
 the people of his charge; or, to speak still more truly, and 
 with still nicer restriction, it is that people seen only in the 
 light of their moral relations. The changes in those relations 
 are so gradual, that generally the minister hiniself can hardly 
 estimate them without comparing attentively, and at leisure, 
 two pretty distant periods. To describe these slow moving 
 revolutions, the means by which they were produced, or th^ 
 results by which they were made manifist, would savour of 
 egotism, or frequently of senility. In this unostentatious la- 
 bour is the time of a minister of Christ usually and most pro- 
 fitably employed. Unseen, and noiseless as the evening diiw^ 
 liis inllucnce descends upon the people of his charge; and 
 after his sun is set and another has risen, its eflects are most 
 visibly acknowledged in the moral loveliness of a succeeding 
 generation. 
 
 Such was the general tenor of Dr. Baldwin's ministry. 
 He was a faithful, alfectionate, and devoted jjastor. No man 
 was perhaps ever more t(!nderly belovod by his church and 
 congregation. Nor was his usefulness confined at all to these. 
 He was for the part of the city in which he livod, appropri- 
 ately the minister of the poor, and of those who but for liim 
 might have said, No man careth for our souls In the cham- 
 ber of sickness and the house of death, he was emphatically 
 at home. His amiable deportment, vencsrable appearance, 
 and unassuming i)iely, rendered him the peculiar favoinite of 
 those wlio felt themselves neglected by the world. He was 
 their minister. To him thoy could unburden their sorrows; 
 to hitn could they, as to a lather, iml)osom th(> overllowinirs of 
 their penitence. He it was whom they wished to se(^ at llirlr 
 bedside in the hour of their departure, and to commit the dust 
 of their friends to its lone and silent grave. 
 
 But not to Boston alone was the usefulness of Dr. Bald- 
 win restricted. Under his fostering hand many of the churches 
 ill its vicinity arose, and by his parental care were they 
 sustained. And it is no smiUl praise, both to his piety and
 
 MCIIOIU OF THE IlEV. THOMAS EALDU'i.V, D. D. 301 
 
 to liis ability, lliat tliey drank so universally into his spirit. 
 He liad tlie faculty, the true evidence of greatimss, of form- 
 ing other men into his own likeness. And hence it is that 
 his character has left so broad an impression ujjon all this 
 part of New-England. Tlie standard of tiie pulpit rose in 
 his own denomination every where around him. lie assisted 
 the young of his brethren in their attempts to ac(|uire the ad- 
 vantages of education. He set before them an example of 
 simple, unalfecled piety. Ho was a man of peace, and 
 husiied all their contentions, until in his vicinity contention 
 was wholly forgotten. In few places of our country, perha])s, 
 is there so great a degree of harmony existing as in the asso- 
 ciations of which Dr. Baldwin was a prominent member. 
 This fact all will unite in ascribing to his meek, patient, wise, 
 and upright jirecc-pt and example. 
 
 It was in labours such as these that his life was principally 
 consumed. There are, however, a lew circumstances some- 
 what more deserving a paiticular notice. 
 
 AVt; have alluded to the revival of religion which was wit- 
 nessed during the two first years of his settlement. After this 
 subsided, the church continued for sonie time to advance with 
 the growth which usually attends the faithful dispensation of 
 the word and ordinances of the gospel. In the year 1797, 
 the congregation had so much increased, that it was found 
 necessary to enlarge their ()lace of worship. This work was 
 completed, and the house re-opened, on the 30ih of Novem- 
 ber in that year. A sermon was preached by the pastor on 
 the occasion, from Psalm cxxii. 7, 8, 9 — " I'eaee be within 
 thy walls, and pros|)erity vviihin thy palaces," &c. And al- 
 though the addition comprised two-sevenths of the whole 
 house, yet the pews were soon taken up, and the house be- 
 came as full as before the enlargement was made. 
 
 Iti the year 1803, a second revival of religion, and the 
 most remarkable that was witnessed during Dr. Baldwin's 
 ministry in Boston, occurred. It extended to both the first 
 and second, then the only Baptist churches in Boston, and its 
 results were felt also in the cluuchcs of other denominations. 
 It is perhaps not too much to say, that the hap()y change in 
 the religious views of a large portion of professing Christians 
 in Boston, may date its origin, very evidently, from this 
 event. It continued for more than two years, and a very 
 great number were the subjects of its salutary influences. \
 
 3D2 MEMOIR OP TUE REV. THOMAS nALDWlN, D. D. 
 
 The particular account of this work of the Holy Spirit, 
 may be found in the first volume of the American Baptist 
 Magazine, first series, numbers for September, 1804, and 
 September, 1805. To these we must refer our readers, as 
 the narrative would be too extended for our present purpose. 
 It will only be proper here to remark, that the attention 
 commenced simultaneously in both churches in the spring of 
 1803. In September, October, and November of that year, 
 the attention was the most solemn. In September of 1804, 
 though somewhat abated, it was still pleasing and interesting; 
 and it was not till August, 1805, nearly two years and a half 
 from its commencement, that it could be considered to have 
 terminated. During this jjcriod, the first church received 
 one hundred and thirty-five, and the second two hundred and 
 twelve; in all, throe luindr(;d and forty-seven members. 
 
 We cannot, whilst referring to this work of grace, omit a 
 few extracts from the remarks which accompany the narra- 
 tive to which we have alluded. We do it to illustrate the 
 nature of the religious impressions then made upon the minds 
 of the nuiltitudes who thronged the houses of worship, as wdl 
 as to show the sound discretion of him whom God used ascme 
 of the principal instruments of their conversion. 
 
 " This work," he remarks, " has, we believe, been carried 
 on with as little noise and confusion as any of equal extent 
 which has ever taken place in our land. We are far from 
 thinking that there caniuit be a good work where there is a 
 considerable mixture of enthusiasm ; but still we think it not 
 very desirable. There has been little or no outcry, swoon- 
 ing, Sec. in the present work. The mind has been silently 
 yet powerfully impressed. 
 
 " The converts in general have appeared to have a deep 
 and thorough sense of the depravity of their own hearts, and 
 of tho infinite evil of sin, as commitied against a holy God. 
 They have not so frequently expressed their fears of hell, as 
 their dread of sin on account of the wrong which it contains 
 in itself. Comfort has been variously communicated. The 
 jirecious promises have in some instances been powerfully 
 applied. Others, on viewing the Divine character, have had 
 instant joy infused into their souls. They have felt such a 
 sweetness in meditating upon the perfections of God and the 
 glories of the Redeemer, as apparently to lose sight of every 
 thing else. In other instances, light has been gradually let
 
 MEMOIR OF THE UCV. THOMAS BALDWIN, D. D. 393 
 
 into the mind, and they have obtained evidence of their 
 change by finding within themselves the tempers and feelings 
 of the gracious heart. 
 
 •' We add, in the last place, a remark upon the effects of 
 this work on individuals and on society at huge. It has re- 
 claimed the profane swearer, the Sabbath breaker, the gam- 
 bler. It has made the ' young men sober-minded.' It has 
 formed the minds of all who have embraced it to the love of 
 virtue and religion. It !.as led them to the discharge of all 
 the duties of social and religions life, with conscientiousness 
 and fidelity. In a word, it has laid a foundatioa to hope, that 
 in future life they will so conduct as to be ornaments to reli- 
 gion and blessings to the world." To this the most bapjiy 
 period of his ministr}', Dr. Baldwin often referred with un- 
 speakable pleasure to the very close of iiis life. 
 
 In September, 1S03, Dr. Baldwin, by the appointment of 
 the Baptist ML-Jsionary Society of Massachusetts, commeBced 
 the publication of the American Baptist Magazine, tliea under 
 the title of the M".ssachusetts Baptist Missionary Magazine. 
 This work was first published semi-annually, then quarterly, 
 afterwards once in two months, and at present monthly. 
 From its commencement until the year 1817, he was its sole 
 editor. From 1817 until his death, he was its senior editor, 
 and continued from time to time to enrich its pages with the 
 results of his experience and the warnings of his wisdom. 
 For many years this was the only Baptist religious periodical 
 work in America. To its inlhiencc, and to the labours of 
 Dr. Baldwin, by its means may be ascribed in a great degree 
 the rapid progress which has been made in his own denomi- 
 tion in actpiaintance with each other, in missionary enterprise, 
 and in religious knowledge. 
 
 Dr. Baldwin has, however, been more extensively known 
 to the world as an author, through his works on Baptism and 
 Communion. The first of these was entitled, " Open Com- 
 munion Examined," and was originally published in 1789, at 
 the request of the Woodstock Association, whilst the author 
 resided in New- Hampshire. The second was published in 
 1794, and was in answer to a tract of the Rev. Noah Wor- 
 cester, entitled "J Pricndlif Letter^'''' addressed to the author. / 
 In 1808, those were re-published in a volumw, with the ad- 
 dition of an appendix, containing a reply to Mr. Edwards' 
 " Candid Reasons^" together with some additional remarks
 
 304 MEMOIR OF THE REV. THOMAS BALDWIN, D. D. 
 
 upon some sermons and pamphlets which had recently ap- 
 peared on the subject. 
 
 The author's principal work on this controversy, was pub- 
 lished in 1810, and is entitled, " A Sei-ies of Letters, in 
 which the distinguishing Sentiments of the Baptists arc ex- 
 plained and vindicated, in ansiver to a late Ptiblication by 
 the Rev. Samuel Worcester, A. M. addressed to the Author^ 
 entitled. Serious and Candid Letters.'''' This is a volume 
 of about 250 pages, and contains a pretty ample discussion 
 of the principal topics of dispute between the Baptists and 
 Pedobaptists. This is considered the ablest of Dr. 15aldwin's 
 productions. It was written in the meridian of his strength, 
 upon a subject on which he had long and deeply reflected, and 
 at a time when, by repeated trials, he had become aware of 
 his own power, and could fearlessly rely upon the decisions 
 of his own intellect. It has accordingly given him a more 
 extensive reputation than any other of his works, both on this 
 and the other side of the Atlantic. The late Rev. Andrew 
 Fuller, than whom no man was better able to decide upon its 
 merits, pronounced this the ablest discussion of the question 
 he had ever seen. 
 
 To enter into an analysis of these letters, would, on this 
 occasion, be irrevelant to our object. It could not be done 
 without presenting an abstract of the whole matter in dispute. 
 It will be suflicient to remark, that the letters enter quite fully 
 into the merits of the controversy on most of its points, and 
 they every where exhibit a vigour of intellect, an acutencss 
 of logic, and a perspicuity of reasoning, not often to be met 
 with in works of this nature. Their style is simple, forcible, 
 and direct; sometimes enlivened by the easy playfulness of 
 a man who feels entirely at home in his subject, and at others 
 repelling with manly dignity the unhandsome aspersions 
 which in those days it was too common to heap upon the 
 Baptists, or those who defended tlicm. Now that the hour 
 of controversy has gone by, it is not, we bc-lieve, denied by 
 candid men, even of other denominations, that, able as was 
 his antagonist, and he was in his lifetime tiie loader of his sect, 
 yet that Dr. Baldwin had the decided advantage in the ar- 
 gument. 
 
 liesides these works, Dr. Baldwin pul)lishcd in the year 
 18"ri0, a short essay on tho subject of John's Baptisni, a ques- 
 tion which at that time, in consotpiencc of the allusion to it
 
 MEMOIR OP TUB REV. tllOMAS BALDWIN, D. D. 396 
 
 in Mr. Hall's work on Communion, was considerably agitated. 
 Tlie design of the author was to establish the position, that 
 John's Baptism was Christian IJaptism; a doctrine which 
 many were labouring to subvert. This, although written 
 with ability, is |)robably inferior to his other works on this 
 controversy. If, however, it lacks somewhat of the vigour of 
 his former productions, it should be remembered that the 
 man of seventy is not in all respects the man of forty-five. 
 
 Whilst thus actively engaged in the arduous labours of a 
 pastor, as the editor of an important periodical work, and as 
 a successful polemical writer, h will of course be supposed 
 that Dr. Baldwin received those marks of public attention, 
 which are usually bestowed upon those who rise to eminence 
 in their profession. He was repeatedly chosen chaplain of 
 the General Court of the Commonwealth. In 1802 he was 
 appointed to deliver the annual sermon on the day of the 
 General Election. This sermon was received with great 
 attention, and two or three editions of it were immediately 
 printed. In 1803, he was admitted to tha degree of Doctor 
 in Divinity at Union College, New-York. The degree of 
 Master of Arts had been some time previously conferred 
 upon him by Brown University, Rhode Island. Of this in- 
 stitution he was first a trustee, and at the time of his decease 
 had been for many years the Senior Fcllotn. Of Waterville 
 College, Maine, to which he had been a liberal benefactor, 
 he was a trustee from its first organization. Of most of the 
 benevolent institutions of Boston he was an active manager, 
 and of not a \'cvf the presiding oft'iccr. At the time of his 
 death, he was president of the Baptist Board of Managers 
 for Foreign IMissions, and one of the trustees of the Colum- 
 bian College of the District of Columbia. lie was a member 
 of the Convention for amending the Constitution of the Com- 
 monwealth of Massachusetts in the year 1821, and in all its 
 deliberations, especially those whicli had any bearing upon 
 the subject of religious liberty, he took an active part, and 
 not unfrequently spoke with unusual ability. 
 
 To those who were acquainted with his reputation, it is 
 needless to remark, that of his own denomination in the 
 northern states, he stood decidedly at the head. No import- 
 ant association seemed complete unless it had enrolled him 
 as its president. No measure seemed to promise success, 
 and it is but a just tribute to his wisdom to add, that very few
 
 39C MEMOIR OF THE REV. THOMAS BALDWIN, D. D. 
 
 succeeded, which had not received his sanction. His brethren 
 may witli mucii justice say of him, Unto him men gave ear, 
 and waited and kept silence at his counsel. Alter his words 
 thoy spako not again, and his speech dropped upon tliem. 
 He chose out our way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in 
 the army, as one that comforteth the mourners. 
 
 Within this widely extended sphere of usefulness, beloved 
 and respected by all good men of every station and of every 
 sect, did Dr. Baldwin walk until the close of life. No gusts 
 of passion, no bitterness of resentment, no sectarian jealousy 
 had alienated friends or exasperated enemies, lie retained 
 the entire confidence and veneration of the community to 
 the last; for at the first, having honestly deserved it, by 
 meekness, and humility, and sincerity, he daily evinced that 
 with no other man could it be so safely trusted. 
 
 About seven years before his death, he was attacked with 
 a slight paralytic alTection, which gave his friends the first in- 
 timation that his active labours were drawing to a close. 
 From this his physical system soon recovered ; but he always 
 believed that his inind hud received an injury, which would 
 never be repaired. He sometimes alluded to it with some 
 degree of emotion, and seemed aware that his mental ener- 
 gies, particularly his memory, were sensibly enfeebled. 
 Whether the change was owing to this attack or not, it is 
 probable that his estimation of himself was correct. It was 
 not, however, until about four years before his death, that his 
 friends would allow that they beheld in his intellect any of 
 the infirmities of age. 
 
 And when these were at last discovered, they were such as 
 rendered him to the pious and the kind man even more than 
 ever interesting. Old age had imparted none of its fretful- 
 ness, but, on tlie contrary, shed abroad upon him yet more 
 abundantly, the grace of Christian charity. The power with 
 which he once could grasp a diihcult subject, and pursue to 
 its results a striking chain of illustration, seemed perhaps 
 gradually in his public performances to be leaving him; but 
 yet the ardour of his piety was unabated, and liis parental 
 exhortations were frequently inimitably affecting. He spoke 
 in the undisguised sincerity of his heart, as a man on the 
 brink of eternity ; and an audience would sometimes be 
 melted into tears by the exiiortation of his old age, which 
 would probably have remained unaffected and unmoved by 
 the eloquence of his more vigorous manhood.
 
 MElhtOIR OP TIIR HRV. THOMAS BALDWIN, D. D. 397 
 
 In private conversation, the change was far less perceptible. 
 His memory, as is usually the case, was the power of his 
 mind on which the hand of aj^e had been laid most heavily. 
 This was not, however, often discovered, unless he were 
 sulTeriiiir under the pressure of some temporary indisposition. 
 His judgment remained almost entire to the last. We do not 
 mean to say that he could comprehend a train of abstruse 
 reasoning as readily as at forty-five, or see as intuitively the 
 results of moral combinations; but on a matter once fairly 
 before him, his opinion during the last 3'ear of his life was as 
 50un<l as ever. As is common to old age, he delighted more 
 in the narr?^tive than in the abstract; but his narrative was 
 always interesting, and his illustration, pertinent and happy. 
 And thus, like the sun at his setting, what was wanting in 
 meridian splendour, was more than supplied by the mild 
 radiance on which the eye delighted to dwell, and which 
 threw abroad its rich and mellowed glories more profusely 
 the nearer it approached to the moment of its departure. 
 
 For about a year before his decease, his strength began 
 visibly to decline. His feeble voice and tottering step too 
 well forewarned his friends that his venerable form was soon 
 to be gathered to his fathers. Of this, he himself was aware ; 
 and frequently, both in public and in private, alluded with 
 much feeling to the hour of his departure, now so rapidly 
 approaching. Rarely for some time before bis death, did he 
 attend a meeting with his brethren in the ministry, without 
 alluding to the fact that he might never meet with them again. 
 Scarcely could he hear of the happy departure of a saint, 
 especially if he were aged or a minister of the gospel, without 
 betrayirig visible emotion. It was not the fear of death. Dr. 
 Baldwin was not alVaid to die. His faith was firm, his hope 
 was unclouded. It was the tear which nature sheds over the 
 sundering of long cherished, of much loved relations. It was 
 the tear which an apostle shed when standing for the last 
 time on the seashore of Miletus, or which a greater than an 
 aposile shed when surrounded by the weeping sisters at the 
 sad tomb of Bethany. 
 
 Dr. Baldwin, as our readers are already apprised, died 
 suddenly, and from home. He had left Boston to attend the 
 commencement of Watcrville College, and arrived at Hal- 
 lowell on Friday, August 20. The voyage seemed beneficial 
 to his health, and on the succeeding Sabbath he preached 
 
 31
 
 SOS MEMOIR OF THE UEV. THOMAS UALDWlX, I). t>. 
 
 twice in tlie Baptist meeting-house in that town. His text 
 in the afternoon was, Gal. ii. 20 — T/ie life tohich 1 now 
 live, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved tiic, 
 and gave himself for me. In this his last discourse he bore 
 testimony to the supports which, during his long life, he had 
 derived from the gospel of Jesus Christ. He declared that 
 his only hope of pardon and acceptance with God was 
 through the mediation of a cruciiied Redeemer. "With an 
 emphasis which sensibly affected his audience, he adopted as 
 his own the language of his text, and declared, The life which 
 /live in the flesh, / live by the faith of the Son of God, who 
 loved 7nc, and gave himself for nic. lie concluded the service 
 with the 7lst Psalm of Watts, 3d part, C. M. and read with 
 great feeling the following stanzas : 
 
 God of my childhood and my youth, 
 
 Tlie guide of ;ill my diiys, 
 I have decJarfid thy lieavenlj truth, 
 
 And told thy vrondrous ways. 
 
 Wilt thoii forsake my hoary hairs, 
 
 And leave my fiiintiitg heart? 
 Who shall :jU8taiii my siiikttTg years. 
 
 If God uiy j-trength depart ? 
 
 Let niG thy power and truth proclaiiu 
 
 Before the rising age, 
 And leave a savour of thy name 
 
 ^\'hen I shall quit the stage. 
 
 The land of silence and of diath 
 
 Attentls my vert remove .' 
 O may these poor remains ofhrcath 
 
 Ttiith the wide world thy love. 
 
 His audience felt assured that this was his last testimony to 
 them in favour of the gospel; but little did they think that 
 he had rcsid, or they were singing his requiem, and that the 
 two first lines of the last stanza were so soon to be literally 
 accomplished. 
 
 On the following day, August 29, he proceeded to Water- 
 viHc. He seemed better for the ride, and spent the after- 
 noon in walking over the college premises, and examining 
 the condition of the institution. In the evening he ofliciated 
 at the domestic altar with peculiar devotion and sok-mnily, 
 and after bidding each individual an aifectionatc adieu, re-
 
 MEMOIR or THE HEV. TUOMAS UALDWIX, D. D. 
 
 399 
 
 tired to rest at about nine o'clock. After sleeping apparently 
 well for about aa hour, he seemed to awake, and answered 
 in his usual manner, a question respectins: his health; he t.ieii 
 suddenly groaned and was no more. His usefulness and his 
 life terminated together. 8|)ared the pains of death and the 
 agonies of separation, " he was not, for God took him ;" and 
 almost whilst he listened to the voice of aflection on earth, 
 the plaudit burst u[)on his ear, " Well done, good and taitli- 
 ful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 
 
 Every token of respect for tiie memory of the deceased 
 was shown by the Trustees and Faculty of Waterville Col- 
 lege. On Wednesday his remains, enclosed in a leaden 
 cofTin, were sent to Boston, attended by the Hon. BIark. 
 Harris, of Portland, who had been appointed by the Trus- 
 tees to accompany tlie afflicted widow with her sad cliarge 
 to the place of his former residence. They arrived there 
 on Friday, September 2. 
 
 On Monday, September 5, a prayer was offered at the 
 house of the deceased, by the Rev. Stephen Gano, of Pro- 
 vidence. The other funeral services were attended at the 
 meeting-house of the Second Baptist Church by a thronged 
 and deeply affected congregation. The Rev. Joseph Graf- 
 ton, of Newton, who offered the concluding prayer at the 
 instaUation of the deceased, prayed. Rev. Mr. Sharp, of 
 Boston, delivered the funeral discourse from Acts xi. 24 — 
 • He teas a good man.'' Rev. Mr. Wayland closed the 
 services with prayer. The body was then conveyed to the 
 family tomb, followed by thousands, who were anxious to 
 testify their respect for this faithful and distinguished servant 
 of the luord Jesus Ciirist, 
 
 Dr. Baldwin was twice married. His first wife was MfSi 
 Ruth Huntington, of Norwich, Connecticut. She was the 
 mother of all his children. Of these, the only survivor is 
 Mrs. Ruth Holt, the wife of Mr. B(Mijamin Holt, of Boston. 
 Mrs. Baldwin died February 11, 1812. On the 1st of De- 
 cember, 1812, he was married to Miss Margaret Duncan, of 
 Haverhill, ]Massacluisetts, who still survives to mourn her ir- 
 reparable loss, and whose affectionate and assiduous attention 
 to the kindest of husbands will for ever endear her to all by 
 whom he was beloved. 
 
 The history of a man's life is the only sure evidence of
 
 403 MEMOIR OP THE REV. THOMAS BALDWIV, D. D. 
 
 his ability. What a mart has done we hold to be proof posi- 
 tive of his power. Judged by this standard, Dr. Baldwin 
 certainly will be ranked among the most eminent men of his 
 jjrofession in this country. To say nothing of his publications, 
 some of which have become standard works on the subjects 
 of which they treat, it is evident that no man, not highly 
 git'ted of nature, could ever, under his circumstances, have 
 acquired so extensive an influencf, and retained it to the 
 last, entire and undiminished. Men do not confide their 
 interests into the hands of another, unless he be abler than 
 themselves. And he who for so long a time united the suf- 
 frages of all, could only have retained them by giving re- 
 peated proofs of undoubted native pre-eminence. 
 
 And this consideration will be more striking, if we recollect 
 *he circumstances under which Dr. Baldwin entered the 
 ministry in Boston. His opportunities for improvement, 
 either by reading or intellectual association, had been limited. 
 He had read little, he had seen little; but God had given him 
 the ability to think. He was of an age at which the intel- 
 lectual habits of most men are formed. They are too wise 
 to learn, and too much attached to the habits of their early 
 education to amend them. Hence too frequently, to men of 
 this a"e, a change of location is the end of usefulness. " As 
 a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wan- 
 dereth from his place." But not so with the subject of this 
 memoir. The change was a great one, but he was equal to 
 it. He looked upon the relations of society in the light of 
 common sense and of truth. He perceived what was required 
 in the situation which he had entered. He saw what he 
 wanted; and in the strength of a mind competent to dictate 
 terms to itself, he resolved to sup])ly it. lie threw aside 
 what was unsuitable to his present station; he performed 
 with his full ability what that station required ; and sooa 
 found what he who honestly does his duty wilt always find, 
 that he was competent to the work which Trovidencc had 
 assigned him. 
 
 The prominent trait in Dr. Baldwin's intellectual charac- 
 ter was vigorous and maidy discrimination. His imagination 
 was not luxuriant, nor had his taste acquired that accuracy 
 of tact, which is only the result of an early acquaintance with 
 the classics of language. Hence he succeeded best in a train 
 of ratiocination, especially if it were one which led lo aa
 
 MRM3IU OJ? TUG RiiV. TIIOM VS RALDWI.V, I). D. 401 
 
 uri^Giit appeal to the conscience. Hence liis style is remark- 
 able ni jre tor perspicuity than j,'race. It is clear and forci- 
 ble, but not ornate, and it gains nothin;^ when the author 
 attempts to adorn it. When relying on his reasoning power, 
 he is strong; but when attempting to indulge his imagination, 
 the critic might sometimes say in good nature, ISuiius llo' 
 merus dormitat. 
 
 In public lite, Dr. Baldwin combined in a rare degree 
 unbending rectitude with unsophisticated kindness of heart. 
 In the discharge of his duty he never knew fear. He was 
 naturally above any thing like timidity; and religious prin- 
 ciple had still more eflectually tauglit him to do right " un- 
 caring consequences." And yet no man could have more 
 ^refulIy avoided unnecessarily injuring the feelings of the 
 lost insignificant human being. He rigidly obe\'ed the 
 ommand, ' Speak evil of no man.' In company or at home, 
 ; either spoke kindly, or was silent. Whilst true to a hair's 
 readth to the principles which he believed, he gave full 
 ■redit to the honesty and the rectitude of those from whom he 
 differed. Hence was it that he so often obtained the bless- 
 ing of a peace maker. Hence he maintained to the last, the 
 entire confidence of men of the most conllicting o])inions, 
 and even came off from the arena of theological controversy 
 rich in the esteem even of those whom his argument failed 
 to convince. 
 
 But it was in the retirement of domestic life, as the hus- 
 band, the father, and the friend, that you beheld him clothed 
 in the most endearing attributes. It was here that he shed 
 around him the bland and attractive lustre of finished moral 
 excellence. His disposition was in a pre-eminent degree 
 charitable, kind, and benevolent. To know him at liome, 
 was to venerate and love him. Always self-possessed, always 
 dignified, yet always instructing and always cheerful, no one 
 could long be unhappy beneath his hospitable roof. The 
 writer of this feeble attempt to delineate his character, was 
 for four years in the habit of seeing him daily, and on terms 
 of the most familiar intercourse ; and for nearly half of this 
 time was an inmate of his family, and remarked his deport- 
 ment under every variety of circumstances ; and he can truly 
 say, that he does not recollect to have ever seen him betray 
 a temper inconsistent with the Christian profession. 
 The character of his piety corresponded, as might be ex-
 
 402 MEM9IR OF THE FwEV. THOMAS BALDWIN, D. ». 
 
 pected, with the type of his mind. It was visible in the Arm 
 adherence to truth, and the conscientious practice of wliat lie 
 believed to be his duty. This was at the same time blended 
 with fervent charity and ardent love for souls. He was a 
 sincere believer in the doctrines of tlie Reformation, and his 
 daily life manifested their inlluencc upon his heart, if any 
 feature of his piety was more prominent than another, it was 
 meek, child-like humility. This was seen in every walk of 
 life, and every where did it add a new charm to his other 
 excellent endowments. 
 
 As a preacher, he stood among the most eminent of his 
 time in the denomination of which he was so long the dis- 
 tinguished ornament. He has ])ublished more than thirty 
 sermons preached on particular occasions, and all of them 
 are deserving of attentive perusal. In all of them may be 
 discovered the traces of strong and accurate retlcction, or of 
 fervent and deeply affecting piety. Sometimes they are re- 
 markable for acute and original ai'gument, and at others for 
 tender and overflowing feeling. Whatever was his subject, 
 he always left upon his audience the conviction of his own 
 sincere and earnest solicitude for their everlasting good. His 
 expostulations with the young were in a rcmarkaltlo degree 
 affectionate, parental, and pathetic. Very frequently on 
 such occasions he was moved even to tears. 
 
 His manner in the pulpit was dignified, simple, and unaf- 
 fected. He rarely wrote his sermons in full ; and not gene- 
 rally, at least in the latter part of his life, did he even furnish 
 himself with a coj)ious skeleton. His preparation most com- 
 monly consisted in studious reflection upon his subject, and 
 writing merely the leading divisions. To this method he 
 had been earliest accustomed, and in this manner he was 
 probably more generally successful. Some of his ablest 
 printed sermons were preached in this manner, and never 
 written till after their delivery. Though far from being 
 prejudiced against the use of notes, he was fully and doubt- 
 less very truly aware, that at the present day, at least in 
 New-England, there is as much danger to bo apprehended 
 from too great a reliance upon writing, as there is from not 
 writing at all. 
 
 In person. Dr. Baldwin was rather above the usual size, 
 firmly and strongly built, and towards the close of his life 
 barely inclined to corpulency. His countenance was digni-
 
 MEMOIR OF THE REV. THOMAS BALDWIN, D. D. 403 
 
 fieJ, mild, and engaginjf, and his hair, of late years perfectly 
 white, rendered his whole appearance in the highest degree 
 venerable. His habits were temperate and regular, without 
 being I'ormal or ascetic. Hence it will be readily imagined, 
 that he uniformly left upon every one the impression of old 
 age in its loveliest and most interesting aspect, and Chris- 
 lianity in its mildest and most attractive exhibition.
 
 MEMOIR 
 
 REV. RICHARD F U R M A N, D. D. 
 
 Op this eminent servant of the Lord, it is difficult to express 
 what is just and proper wi liout the appearance of excessive 
 partiality. To represent him in the ordinary terms of eulog}', 
 or to depict his virtues by any of the common standards of 
 description, would be the direct way to fall short of the truth. 
 The providence of God gives i'cw such men to the world as 
 Dr. Furman. After a long acquaintance with the world, and 
 an intimate knowledge of ministers of the gospel, of \-arious 
 denominations, and of almost every diversity of talent and 
 attainment, I am free to confess, that I have scarcely met 
 any where the individual of such commanding excellence. 
 The feeling which he inspired in the mind of those best 
 qualified to judge, was not the cold approval of unquestioned 
 merit, but the hearty admiration of true goodness and exalted 
 worth. Where others were great, he was transcendent ; and 
 where others wore fair and consistent in character, he stood 
 forth lovely and luminous in all the best attributes of man. 
 His genuine goodness was coupled with moral grandeur ; so 
 that in viewing him it was not requisite to single out some 
 one quality upon which to fix the estimate of his character, 
 but to contemplate that character in its beautiful and com- 
 prehensive integrity, as constituted and formed out of all 
 those elements which give weight and importance to human 
 nature. His endowments of mind were such as to give hin^ 
 a station among those most favoured by the bounty of Pro~ 
 vidence, and his attainments were such as to secure the re- 
 spect of the most intelligent men, 
 
 Richard Furman, D. D. was born at .Fsopus, in the state 
 of New- York, in the year 175-5. His parents removed wiij^
 
 406 MEMOIR OF THE REV. RICHARD PURMAN, D. D. 
 
 him, whilst yet an infant, to the state of South-Carolina, and 
 after some time spent on the sea-coast, uUimately settled at 
 the High Hills of Santee, where liis father held the office of 
 Prothonotary, and followed the jjrofession of a surveyor. At 
 this place, tlien almost a wilderness in comparison of what 
 population and wealth have since done for it, he grew up to 
 manhood under the immediate eye and tuition of his father. 
 By him he was carefully instructed in the knowledge of the 
 English language and niathemalics, while his attention was 
 directed to the study of the Scriptures, portions of which from 
 the Old and New Testament, his father daily read in the 
 family. Dr. Furman commenced the work of the ministry 
 about the age of eighteen, at wiiich period of life, on account 
 of the gravity of his character, the extent of his attainments, 
 and the soundness of his piety, the most encouraging hopes 
 ol his future usefulness were entertained. 
 
 lie entered the service of his divine Master under a deep 
 and permanent conviction of the importance of the sacred 
 office, and with that ardour of piety wl)ich gave to his future 
 life a decided direction. The love of souls, the love of 
 Christ, and a benevolence which experimental religion had 
 warmed and ennobled, were united into one sublime passion 
 of his soul, under the predominating power of which he went 
 forth to publish the gospel of peace. From the very first 
 his preaching was marked by good sense, cogent reasoning, 
 searching applications, and powerful aj»peals to the fears, 
 hopes, and rational motives of those who heard him. 
 
 There was in his early ministrations an earnest of that 
 incomparable usefulness and devotion which his after life 
 developed. There was a steady march in his fust move- 
 ments, a regular and determined progression, suitable to the 
 eminence from which he had commenced his life of sacred 
 duty. Tn this respect he din'ercd fiom many who have 
 passed their youth in unavailing experiments before they 
 could attain any s(!ttled plan of action. His flight was lofty 
 from the first, and free from the eccentricities which too often 
 spoil groat minds, he soared at once toward the summit of 
 liuman worth and Christian dignity. There was a greatness 
 in the very rudiments of his ministry, a majesty in the style 
 of his youthful performances, which agreed well with the se- 
 date lustre of his subsC(|uont life. 
 
 The scene of his curly labours in the ministry was that
 
 MEaiOlR OF THE REV. KICII \RD FURMAN, D. D. 407 
 
 portion of country lying east and north of ilio rivers Wateree / 
 and Santee. In that extended section of South-Carolina 
 he preached, and recommended with an ardour and ahility 
 that excited universal surprise and admiration, a crucified 
 and all-sufllcient Saviour. Many of tiie churches afterwards 
 united to the Charleston Baptist Association, were founded 
 by his instrumentality, and ever cherished ihe deepest affec- 
 tion for his person and labours. The early settlers in that 
 region were almost wholly destitute of th(! requisite provi- 
 sions for religious instruction. Not only so, but even com- 
 mon morality was a rare commodity. Tavern scenes, night 
 revels, drunkenness, and licentiousness, were so common as 
 to have ceased to shock, the minds of any. The influence 
 of the young Furman's preacliing upon these moral wastes, 
 was most salutary and elfective. Many of those hardy sons 
 of vice, smitten with conviction under the searching power 
 of his convincing appeals, were rescued from the {)0wer of 
 darkness, and brought into the liberty of the sons of God. 
 The aged ministers with whom he was in habits of intercourse, 
 viewing in him an uncommon lorce and ri|)encss of judgment, 
 together with tlie most unassumingdemcanour, soon transferred 
 to him the principal place in their associational meetings, and 
 thus yielded to his youth a tribute of respect which had been 
 previously conferred only upon venerated age. They felt 
 and manifested towards him the sentiments of unaffected 
 kindness and esteem. 
 
 Like most of our influential Baptist ministers of that day, 
 lie was a most decided Whig, and exerted his talents and in- 
 fluence in promoting the cause of the revolution in the then 
 British colonies. The trumpet in his hands gave no uncer- 
 tain sound in the cause of liberty; and he conscientiously 
 sought the welfare of his country as a part of his duty to the 
 liord. The British army had at that time invaded South- 
 Carolina, and, in consequence, the subject of these remarks 
 found it expedient to retire with his family into North- 
 Carolina and Virginia. This measure was naturally sug- 
 gested as necessary to his safety, in consequence of the un- 
 sparing vengeance with which all those were pursued who 
 were known to favour the cause of the revolution. In this 
 retreat he continued to follow the liigh avocation of a Chris- 
 tian minister, and to exhibit the feelings and sentiments of 
 the true patriot. The ability with which he enforced the
 
 403 MEirotn op tub rbv. richahd fcsmax, d. d. 
 
 principles of sacred truth on the one hand, and the firmness 
 and intelligence with which he asserted the rights of his 
 countrj on the other, attracted the attention of some of the 
 leading advocates of the revolution. He was afterwards 
 sought and respected as an invaluable acquaintance and 
 friend, by the Pinckneys, and Rutledges, and Sumter, names 
 intimately blended with revolutionary achievements in their 
 native state. 
 
 In the year 1787 Dr. Furnian accepted a pastoral location 
 in the city of Charleston, South-Carolina. There he moved 
 in the uniformity of well doing. There he continued his resi- 
 dence for the period of thirty^eight years, exeniplifying by 
 rich and affecting illustrations, both the active and passive 
 virtues of the Christian name, up to tlie moment of his death. 
 History derives both its interest and its accuracy from the 
 manifest changes and transitions in the progress of human 
 affairs. But in tho measured tenour of a single life, made ap 
 of nameless repetitions of the same acts, there is not to be 
 found that variety which confers interest upon other series 
 ofeventSi Should the moral impression, however, to be de- 
 rived from individual history be thereby diminished ? Is the 
 benignity of tho solar ra}- to be less admired because it is 
 diffused by an ordfr of unvarying succession? Arc the stu- 
 poiiduous works of natwre to have less respect and considera- 
 tion because they continue to a thousand generations the same 
 revolutions, sta,nd in the same order, and produce the same 
 results? Tho character which is formed upon the great 
 model of divine excellence, will indeed partake of the uni- 
 form aspect of the pattern, biit it will also resemble the 
 pattern in tho beauty and grandeur of its features. Dr. 
 I'urman, in regard to the offices and duties of his station, 
 differed from other faithful pastors in this respect: — lie per- 
 formed the same ministerial acts that others did, but it was 
 in a manner wholly his oWn. lie preached, prayed, taught 
 the ignorant, consoled the afilicted, visited the destitute and 
 the sick, used hos[)iiality, mot and counselled bis friends and 
 brethren — nil which things an ordinary man might do, but 
 not as he did. VVInit he did, always seemed to be best done; 
 and what he said, seemed to be so seasonable and just, that 
 no one might hope to express it better. It was therefore not 
 so much by the kind of life which he led, that be was raised 
 to the eminence which he attained, as by the degree of siipe-
 
 MEMOIR OP THE REV. UrCIIARD PURMAN, D. D. 409 
 
 rlorlty in which he stood above others. And after all this 
 superiority was simply a glorying in the Lord. 
 
 There was a spirit of frankness and generosity about Dr. 
 Fiirman, which qualified him for a pre-eminent station in 
 society. No man better knew, or more fully exemplified the 
 principles of social deference. His whole temper was sweet- 
 ened with the love of conciliation, and the actions of his life 
 were all of that amiable and obliging character, which are 
 necessary to cement the union of good society. Though 
 naturally grave and thoughtful, he was free from those seve- 
 rities of character which often render the more gifted classes 
 of our race inaccessible to their inferior brethren. In com- 
 pany, his condescension to those of meanest condition, was 
 no less remarkable than the refinement and pious urbanity 
 with which he addressed his equals. His widl chastened 
 humour wouhl frequently flow out, as much to the instruction 
 as to the gratification of those present. In the department 
 of amusing anecdote and agreeable atticism, he was often 
 unrivalled, and never inelegant. 
 
 For nearly the whole period of his ministry, he was con- 
 nected with one religious body, formed upon the principles of 
 a popular delegation, and consequently requiring much care 
 and kind feeling to maintain its harmony and union. In this 
 association ho not only secured an invariable good-will among 
 the individual members, but under every variety of questions 
 and discussions presented at its meetings, with every diver- 
 sity of character and disposition to be found in a mixt assem- 
 blage, he continued to sustain the authority and influence 
 whicli his wisdom had established, and to receive from all the 
 testimony of unfeigned love. Among his duties as moderator, 
 wa> the presentation of proper salutations to the messengers 
 of distant associations. On such occasions his manner and 
 sentiment was truly tender and impressive. His pathetic 
 and cngagiiiij address, his Christian refinement of expression, 
 and, above all, his noble and manly visage, over which charity 
 had shed its kindly glow, impressed upon such scenes a cha- 
 racter wliicli memory delight(!d to retain. 
 
 iS'Jcli a mind as his readily compreliended all the import- 
 ant rt'iations of life, and bestowed on eacii due consideration. 
 He recognised the debt which he owed to civil government; 
 and from the conscientious part which he sustained in several 
 disliii^aisliLHl appointments, it was evident that he knew how 
 
 35
 
 410 MBAIOIU OP THE UEV. RICHARD FURJTA.V, D, Dt 
 
 to value independence and freedom \ and tliat lie connected 
 tlio true glory of his country with the prevalence of Christian 
 principles, lie was placed, by the suffrage of tlic people, 
 among the loading men of the state, to assist in foiming a 
 constitution for South-Carolina Being a member of the 
 Revolution Society, he was appointed by that respectable 
 body, in conjunction witli the Cincinnati, to prepare and de- 
 liver discourses, one on the deatli of Washington, and the 
 otlier on the death of Hamilton. The tribute which he paid 
 to the virtues of these great men, showed at once his intimate 
 acquaintance with the events of the revolution, and iiis mas- 
 terly power in delineating the characters of men who had 
 stood foremost in the struggle for liberty. In these funeral 
 eulogies, which too are happy specimens of a dictium formed 
 upon the rules of a correct and pure style, he speaks like 
 oflc who had been an eye witness of what he relates ; and 
 while he surveys with just admiration the moral sublimity 
 exhibited in the life of a personage so illustrious as the father 
 of his couiitr}', he admits no tinge of an idolatrous devotion 
 to human instrumentality. But as he had borne his part of 
 tlie burdf.n in the fearful conflict, and knew from experience 
 what kind of magnanimity was requisite to sustain n)an, in 
 s !ch deeds of adventurous patriotism, he was well qualified 
 la estimate the claims of those who, by discretion and valour, 
 rolled back the tide of war, and animated the sinking hopes 
 of their countrymen. 
 
 His mind was awake to every incident which could be 
 thought to have a I)earing on the happiness of his fellow- 
 men. He lifted ii]) the voice of solemn admonition in warn- 
 ii^gs and expostulations against vites v.liich at any time 
 t'ireatencd the moral repose of the community in which he 
 lived ; and urged fiecpient and powerful pleas in favour of 
 t'tuit virtue which is necessary to exalt a peoi)le. ^\'hellever 
 tempest or fire spread their destructive ravages, ho was 
 among the first to call for an humble and picuis deprecation 
 of divine judgments, and the tostering of religious respect for 
 liio events of (««)(l's provickmce. 
 
 The most rnrnuMit ministers of his own persuasion, both 
 \i\ England and America, sought and enjt)}ed his correspon- 
 <!ence. This on his part was conducted with so nuich care 
 Olid regularity, and with so nmch of good sense ami spiritual 
 unction, as to render iiis letters always edifying and grateful.
 
 MEMOIR OF TIIC UCV. RlCn.VKD FURMAN, D. D. 411 
 
 His judgment, as expressed in the freedom of epistolary in- 
 tercourse, was always directed by sound principles, striking 
 discernment, and charitable forbearance. Whilst lie was a 
 most faithful reprover of faults and errors, he was in the 
 habit of making the most liberal allowances for the frailties 
 and imperfections incident to the human character. AVilh 
 party strife he never meddled but in the capacity of a peace- 
 niak(!r ; and when his elTorts failed in this respect, he was 
 content to restrain the expression of opinions as to the cul- 
 pability of all parties. On one occasion, where he had been 
 appealed to by contending brethren, betwixt whom he was 
 unable to restore the desired concord, he meekly observi'd, 
 " that the case appeared to him to be a revival of the old 
 dispute, which of them should be greatest!" He was never 
 known to do or to say any thing which could be supposed ((j 
 originate in the spirit of jealousy or rivalship. He was al- 
 waj's among the first to accord the tribute of deserved com- 
 mendation to his brethren in the ministry, and seemed tu 
 regard their success and happiness as an important ground of 
 satisfaction to himself. 
 
 In person he was somewhat above the common stature, 
 wilh a frame robust, athletic, well proportioned, and remark- 
 ably dignified. It was impossible to be in his presence with- 
 out a feeling of veneration, or to hear him speak without a 
 sincere deference for all he said. His face was full, manly, 
 and highly expressive of kindness and jx'iietration. In the 
 pulpit he appeared to the greatest advantage, when the 
 natural force and elevation of his person were rendered 
 majestic bj- the presence of truth, and the solemnity of 
 eternal things. 
 
 As a Cliristian of rich, deep, and varied experience, Dr. 
 Furman presented much that was worthy of attention. He 
 was among that class of believers whose unsophisticated con- 
 victions and feelings were the consistent impress of scripture 
 truth. His jo\s were not the bursts of sudden transport, nor 
 were his sorrows the paroxysms of temporary grief. His 
 whole life appeared to be an exercise of pious contrition, and 
 the distinguishing feature in his religion was the humbling 
 sense of nature's depraved and corrupted stale. If we are 
 to judjie true ])ietv by the disposition which it assunu s towards 
 sin; if the living faith be certified by the temper with which 
 the believer stands alfected towards the turpitude of i:is own
 
 412 MEMOIR OF THE UEV. RICHARD FURMAN, D. D. 
 
 nature; and if the most obvious tendency of that divine 
 energy which forms the inward man to the habits of spiritu- 
 ahty and godliness, be tiie expulsion of sin from the heart, 
 then may we conclude that few men ever reached such 
 eminence in grace. In meekness, simplicity, and equanimity 
 of soul, he was at all times most exemplary. The care and 
 jealousy with which he watched over and examined himself, 
 were not the least conspicuous parts of his daily conversation. 
 lie was rather of the doubting than of the strongly confident 
 class of Ciuistians. His daily experiences in the divine life, 
 presented in faithful record, resembled a true register ia 
 which the state of the passing season had been duly noted; 
 and where might be found that alternation of bright and 
 gloomy days v.hich usually makes up the history' of the 
 weather during almost any given period. 
 
 In the deep and practical knowledge of the human heart, 
 he was truly a master in Israel. His information had been 
 derived from a severe and conscientious analysis of the diver- 
 sified operations of his own mind; and the rigid scrutiny 
 with which he sat in judgment on himself, added truth and 
 certainty to the result of his close examination. Strict and 
 faithful in deciding upon his own case, and a charitable judge 
 of others, he was qualified to unfold to the timid and waver- 
 ing Christian, those princi|»les which an ex|)erin)ental process 
 had developed to his own view. His religion was not a 
 mechanical organization of frames and feelings, nor the irre- 
 gular vehemence of a transient passion, but the established 
 rectitude of a renewed heart struggling with the principles of 
 spiritual wickedness, and aspiring after the genuine liberty 
 of the sons of God. 
 
 As a minister of the gospel, he had carefully studied, and 
 successfully acquired, all the properties of the sacred ofllce. 
 Like some of the great models of ancient eloquence, he con- 
 quered by early assi<luity some natural im|)ediments, and by 
 this means acquired a habit of extemporaneous exjiression at 
 once terse and conspicuous. His method of treating a sub- 
 ject was always remarkably happy, and no one ever thought 
 of improving an arrangement of topics which his masterly 
 conception had once formed. In the discussion of the several 
 parts of his subject, he was distinct, deliberate, and solemn. 
 His style, which was siniplo and clear, rose by a natural 
 wlevation with his leading ideas, and then were enriched with
 
 MEMOIR OF Tim UEV. RICHAUL) FURM.VX, D. D. 413 
 
 chaste and pertinent illustrations. The general character of 
 his preaching was ju.licious, affectionate, and instructive ; but 
 frequently, in the moments of deeper feeling, he adopted a 
 loftier strain, and yielding to an impassioned impulse, he 
 rose in the height and grandeur of thought, far above his or- 
 dinary elevation. Then it was that he appeared great and 
 commanding. Terror and pity were blended in his air ; his 
 divine commission was held up in view of deeply penetrated 
 multitudes, and t!ie authority under wiiich he acted was seen 
 and felt by all present. Tlie common fault of repetition, 
 and the commoner redundancy of words without exact mean- 
 ing, so universally prevalent among extempore speakers, were 
 seldom to be found in liis sermons. He always had a mean- 
 ing, and that meaning was clear and intelligible. 
 
 I have seldom, if ever, known the man so distinguished for 
 that prudence and useful forecast which are absolutely recpii- 
 site to tiie attainment of res|)ectability and usefulness, as was 
 Dr. Furman. The smallest matters were weighed b}- him 
 with jealous caution; and when the feelings or the opinions 
 of others wevQ concerned, he always adopted the most con- 
 ciliating and amiable course. As an evidence of this, it will 
 be sufficient to remark, that where he was known, all were 
 his friends, none were his enemies. In asserting the pecu- 
 liarities of the denomination to which he belonged, though 
 bold and impressive, yet he always evinced a proper respect 
 for the sentiments and practices of others, and by the spirit 
 of modest deference, secured the kind regard of his opponents. 
 Like Melancthon, he was great in counsel, and whilst con- 
 ducting plans of general utility and benevolence, exhibited 
 a wisdom, the plenitude of which seemed adequate to every 
 occasion. 
 
 In pastoral duties and observances he was a model. The 
 people of his charge enjoyed the constant benefit of his visits, 
 admonitions, and prayers. In all those he was the untiring 
 and painstaking servant of the church, looking after the de- 
 linquent, consoling the atllicted, confirming the feeble-minded, 
 and supporting the weak. No other engagenxmts were ever 
 permitted to interfere with those which he felt bound to exe- 
 cute in the regular prosecution of his pastoral labours; 
 whether it were the rich or the poor, the master or the 
 slave, all equally shared his attentions and aflectionato 
 visitations. 
 
 35*
 
 414 MEMOia OF THE HEV. UirUVUn FURMAN, D. D. 
 
 Though in his views of scripture doctrine he followed no 
 man exclusively, yet he was not unwilling to be foui-.d coin- 
 ciding with such men as Doddridge, Fuller, and Dwiglit. 
 He thought that many of the advocates of exact system in 
 theology, had not deserved well of the cause; and that it 
 accorded better with Christian wisdom to adopt an unmnti- 
 lated revelation, than to press it by forced constructions into 
 the service of a system. He was in general agreement wiih 
 the summary of faith held by the Calvinistic Baptists, and was 
 among those who advised the re-publication of that summary 
 under the sanction of the Charleston Ba|)tist Association. 
 Still he held that all creeds were subordinate to the word of 
 God, and that a reasonable latitude of interpretation of tliis 
 latter instrument should be allowed, providi'd there was no 
 infringement of fundamental principles. 
 
 In general learning he had made such progress as would 
 have ranked him among men of the first intelligence in any 
 country. The defect in his earlier grammatical studies was 
 well supplied by his liberal and comprehensive knowledge of 
 the philosophy of language ; and whilst he did not lay claim 
 to an intimate acquaintance with the rudiments of the ancient 
 languages, he was nevertheless capable of performing the 
 part of a judicious critic in the Htjbrevv and Greek originals 
 of scripture. His studies were chiefly confined to nialhc- 
 matics, metaphysics, belles lettres, logic, history and theology. 
 He cultivated also an acquaintance with the ancient classics, 
 particularly Homer, Longinus, and Quintillian, with whose 
 beauties and precepts he was familiar. He read with sedu- 
 lous attention all the writers of the Augustan age of English 
 literature, and whatever the language possessed valuable in 
 criticism and immortal in poetry. There are few men, it is 
 believed, who have had their minds more richly stored with 
 the fine passages of Milton, Young, Pope, Adtlison, Butler, 
 and other great authors, than Dr. Furman. From them he 
 could quote properly and appositely for almost every occa- 
 sion, what was most beautiful and elo(|uenf. He possessed 
 uncommon talent in disarming the utility of those studies 
 conriected with the mind, and in condensing them into such 
 abstracts as to make them clearly intelligible to every capa- 
 city. In this way he could anahze and expound the princi- 
 ples of moral philosophy and logic, with a facility which could 
 only have resulted from a ready niastery over the subjects. 
 
 I
 
 MEMOIR OF TilE REV. R1CHAR.I) FUKMW, D. I). 415 
 
 But ill, It wliicli iinii;irte(l a charm to his whole iifo, was the 
 godly savor which [XM-vaded and svv(;etcncd all his superior 
 ciulowiiiciUs and qualilicatioiis. All thw vigour of his noble 
 iiitullect was consocrated to God. All tho ni.ilurfd fruits nl 
 liis long experience was an oblation to the F.ither of Mercies. 
 All the variety of his acquireuionts, and all the vustncss of 
 his well furnished mind, were merged in one prevailing de- 
 termination, to know nothing save Christ crucified. 
 
 The whole period of thirt^'-eight years, which passed from 
 tho time of his settlement in Charleston to the diiy of his death, 
 was spent in acts suitalile to the liie and character here set 
 forth. Among his brethren in the ministry throughout the 
 Union, there seems to have been but one opinion of his 
 worth and talents. With one cons(!nt he was appointed 
 president of the fii'st baptist Convention t'or the United 
 States, held in Phihidel|)hia, 1814, aiiti was looked up to as 
 the leading mind in all the deliberations and transactions uf 
 that body. His whole life was untainted by the breath of 
 reproach. 
 
 Having reached his three-score years and ten, this eminent 
 servant of the Lord finished his course among the jjeople of 
 his charge August, 18'2"). lie had been twice married, and 
 left behind him a nuaii-rous family. All his children have, 
 more or les>, walked in the ways of their venerated parent. 
 Njt oi\c of them has proved unworthy of such a descent. 
 Tliree of his sons are now zealous and able ministers of the 
 gospel, and adorning the profession which was so signally 
 honoured by their father. 
 
 The last sermon that Dr. Fursnan delivered was founded 
 -on the text — " Enoch walked with God, and was not, f.jr 
 God took him." Although in this last elVort nature seemed 
 almost exhausted, yet his mind was borne above all earthlv 
 things, and his lips appeared to bo touched with hallowed 
 fire, while he unfolded the privileiies of that conmiunion wiih 
 God, which he was soon to enjoy in measure large and high. 
 As his malady increased, and his suflerings became more 
 intense, the graces of a sanctified disijosition were more con- 
 spicuous. These were an humble reliance on Christ as the 
 all-sullicient Saviour, patience under alHiction, and tenderness 
 of heart. When any of his friends would allude to his past 
 services in the cause of Christ, he would reply — " Upon a 
 review of life I find much to be thankful for; but O, what
 
 416 Mn.MOia of the rev. EICHARD FLTiM.V.V, D. D. 
 
 cause to be humbled before my God ! I am overwhelmed 
 with the sense of my ingratitude, of ni}' neglects, of my un- 
 faithfulness as a minister of Christ !" It evidently distressed 
 him whenever his past exertions were spoken of as indica- 
 tions of uncommon piety. "If I have been the instrument in 
 the hands of God of doing any thing to his glory, it is to me 
 a great mercy. But how numerous have been my short 
 comings. I am filled with shame and confusion when I 
 reflect, how little I have improved my opportunities for doing 
 good 1" That glorious theme on which it had been his delight 
 to dwell in all the exercises of his ministr}', swelled in magni- 
 tude as he approached the close of his life, and it was evident 
 that Christ, and only Christ, was all his hope. To a friend 
 who reminded him that past experiences were valuable, as 
 furnishing evidence of our acceptance with God, through 
 Christ, he replied — '* Yes, they are ; and if I had not these, 
 I know that the promises of grace are still held out. Christ 
 is still the Almight}' Saviour, ready to receive and to pardon 
 the repenting sinner." Like the great and pious Watts, 
 when in the extremity of nature's struggle, he was looking 
 for the prop that was to sustain his sinking spirit, he found 
 the simplest truths of the gospel the most encouraging ones. 
 The last time he visited the house of God, was when a 
 neighbouring minister preached on some of the plain and 
 practical points of the Christian faith. On this occasion he 
 expressed his satisfaction, observing — " These are blessed 
 truths on which we may live and die." To some friends 
 who seemed deeply affected at the view of his sufferings, he 
 said — " I do not pretend to determine, but my own impres- 
 sion is, that this is my last sickness, and if through the riches 
 of divine grace I may obtain the lowest scat in heaven, death 
 is not unwelcome to me." He lost no opportunity to address, 
 in the most affectionate manner, all who entered his apart- 
 ment; and as his strength permitted, he continued to pray 
 in his famil}' with that spiritual fervour and elevation of soul, 
 that indicated his ripeness for bliss. During a violent thunder 
 storm while he was in great pain, lie repeated with emphasis, 
 tlic following beautiful passage from Jeremiaii — " Are there 
 any among th(? vanities of the heathen that can cause rain ? 
 or can tlie heavens give showers? Art tliou not he, O Lord 
 our God ? Therefore we will wait upon thee, for ihou hast 
 made all these things." To a friend who entered his cham-
 
 SIEMOIR OF THE REV. RICHAUU FUllMAN, D. V. 417 
 
 bcr, he said — " O, if such sinners as you and I cvor ^vl to 
 heaven, redeeming grace will be greatly magniticd in our 
 salvation." To some friends present lie said — " I am a 
 dying man, but my trust is in the Uedeemer. I [treacli 
 Christ to you flying, as 1 have attempted to do while living. 
 I commend Christ nnd his salvation to vou." Just belore 
 he expired, he requested the twenty-third jisalm to be read, 
 and whilst this delighttul portion of scripture was imparting 
 its bahu to his listening spirit, he gently grassed to the cv«t- 
 lasting repose of the saints. 
 
 THE END.
 
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