The Life And Ministry Of Samuel Bland

Earthen Vessel 1894:

Reminiscence By Samuel King Bland

On the occasion of my recognition as pastor of the newly-formed Church at Cheshunt, Oct. 17, 1853, I gave what I believed to be a true account of my being brought out of darkness into light, and afterwards felt constrained to enter the Gospel ministry. That statement was taken down and published in the December number of the Earthen Vessel, of which the following is an extract: I need add no more, except a few of the many incidents of my lengthened life; may the little left confirm the reality of the past. In that service, lovingly remembered brethren took part—all since gone home:—George Moyle, Joseph Hamblin, Thomas Jones, George Wyard, William Allen, and others.

I said, “I would desire to begin where God began with me, and that was before I was born. God blessed me with parents that feared and loved His name. I believe He gave me into the hands of praying parents because He had a design towards me for good. They prayed a long time, however, without seeing much sign of answer, for although they took me with them under the sound of a Gospel ministry, and sought to guide and influence, I grew up to almost manhood in a careless state; I had great respect and even awe of my devout father (who died when I was 14 years of age). I had a particularly affectionate regard for my dear mother, who was mercifully spared to me more than 20 years longer. With her counsel I used seemingly to acquiesce and for some time carried on the deception, shrinking from giving her pain through a knowledge of my wicked course. And I solemnly say, that unless the Lord had stopped me, I had gone down to hell with a lie in my right hand. It pleased Him, and I feel sure it was His gracious providence, to allow me to set my affections on a truly Christian girl, a member of the Church in East-lane, Walworth, and teacher in that school. I felt the distance, the essential separation between her condition and mine, and was led in secret prayer to know and seek the removal of that difference. A conviction of the just indignation of God against sin overwhelmed my spirit, and I considered that I was lost, yea, even longed to die to know the worst! Yet in the midst of all, there was a gleam of hope which seemed to reveal that if the Lord was mighty to condemn, He must be also to pardon; still I could not see how. For many days my cry was: “Lord, cut short Thy work in righteousness.” Then the Word came into my soul, ”Unto you that fear My name shall the Son of righteousness arise.” I thought I could lay claim to a fear, and a little light dawned on my mind, I conferred and read much with my dear mother, and have great reason to thank God that this was especially blessed to me, peculiarly so in reading with her that beautiful work—Mr. Hervey’s dialogues. How gloriously did I see the plan and work of redemption there traced out. I had before viewed a glory in the condemning holiness of God; I now saw an equal, yea, a greater glory in the redemption of sinners by Jesus Christ. Still I did not feel myself interested therein; but I had a hope that was like an anchor to my soul, though I was not yet called into the liberty of the Gospel. I felt, however, a strong desire to tell my case to His people, and profess my faith in Him. I wrote to the pastor, Mr. Hamblin, whose ministry I had come to value much, but the very week I wrote, he had resigned the pastorate! This, however, did not deter me, and soon after I was accepted by the Church, and baptized by dear George Moyle, in the month of August, 1842. That day was blessed to make me know more than ever I knew before, and its memory will ever be stored up by me as a jewel.

As to my ministering in the Lord’s name—I own I had longed for it from the first. I had entered on Sunday-school work and felt freedom in teaching the children, being therein often taught myself; I felt the value of a child’s soul, and was sure of the efficiency of the Lord’s Spirit for its conversion.

A godly man, an itinerant preacher, would come to our weekly meetings and sometimes heard me engage; he went to Mr. Moody (then pastor of the Church), and asked him: “Do you think that Bland would go and speak in the Lord’s name?” Mr. Moody replied, “I don’t know, but if he went I should say—the Lord go with him.” The request came from this unexpected quarter, and I was awed—I dare not engage—but it was repeated and after a while I felt I dare not refuse. My first attempt was under the tent of the Christian Instruction Society, on Kennington Common (June, 1845); I felt at liberty, and so I did the following week in speaking from John Bunyan’s old pulpit in Palace-yard, Lambeth, but, after that, no more “calls” came for several months. I began to think I had with fleshly perverseness run before I had been sent, and I ever did shrink from attempting to open a door for myself. During 1846-7, several doors of opportunity were opened, and doors of utterance granted. In the latter year I was removed into South Wales for civil engineering work, and there, frequent calls upon me to preach the Word were made specially in the villages round Swansea Bay and in Neath—to which dear memories still cling. On my return to London, within two years, I was pretty constantly engaged. By Mr. Moody’s wish, I visited Cheshunt, often went, and when the little church was formed in 1852, continued until, by their united desire, took the pastorate.

The little one grew, but never large, and several tokens of blessing were evident. After four years I closed my stated ministry there, and for another four years found myself going hither and thither in many directions, having, I believe, the same Gospel at heart, with many signs following, but often with sadness of heart. In 1860 I was drawn, and, I believe, guided to Chesham in Buckinghamshire. There also I ministered for four years, having much to be thankful for, and feeling thankful that the people still welcome me on frequent visits. I was twice invited to take part in the ministry with the venerable George Wright, at Beccles, and at length, in 1864, removed there; the social habits of the Suffolk churches, and their unions, as well as the valued companionship of their beloved pastor, certainly being an attraction for me. I did not, however, continue a stated ministry there after his retirement, and since then have found it refreshing, and I have thought more adapted to the measure of my gifts (and probably my lack of patience), to itinerate amongst our churches and specially to care for our Association and Home Mission, in all which (with frequent more distant journeys) I find plenty to do, desiring more fully to prove the truth of the proverb—‘’In a labour there is profit.”

At the commencement of 1865 I united with dear John Cooper as editor of the Gospel Herald, and so continued until that little Suffolk magazine came to London. In 1877 I became co-secretary with him of our Association, and since his departure, in 1881, have continued alone.

Eighteen years ago, Charles Hill and I became joint secretaries of our Home Mission, and I still try and serve it a little as Treasurer and occasional advocate.

I have a little strength still, although past my threescore and ten. May it be devoted to the Master’s service in the prosperity of His Church and witness in the world.

[I had no thought of the above appearing in print, but, being urged by our brethren who are conducting this Magazine, I comply.—Samuel K. Bland]

Earthen Vessel 1908:

In Memoriam: Samuel King Bland, Ipswich 

A Servant Of God

In nothing is the sovereignty of God more manifest than in the characters and capacities of those whom He “has made to be accepted in the Beloved.” All “shine as lights in the world,” but some with a lustre so feeble as hardly to be perceived; whilst others are “burning and shining lights” and command universal observation and esteem.

Such was the subject of this memoir. Prominent in the Church of God, and regarded very highly by those who knew him best, he occupied a foremost position as one who served his own generation wisely and well “by the will of God.”

An Appreciation

For this he was naturally qualified. Gifted with an attractive personality, pleasing conversational powers, a ripened judgment, and a wonderful memory, he was, when at his best, a walking chronicle of the past, and a willing and reliable helper of the men of his own time.

Hardly to be called a scholar in the fullest sense of the word, he possessed what is far more useful than the learning of the schools, a great fund of general information. There was hardly a subject on which he had not read and thought. Natural history, the occult laws of the mind, the world’s long story, archeology, and theology in its many branches, all had engaged his attention. He was a shrewd observer of human character and rarely formed a wrong estimate of a fellow-man.

He was eminently generous in his judgment of those whose failings were conspicuous, and always solicitous to see the “angel-side” of those who had erred and strayed. While some regard as hopeless offenders, those who have once sinned, he had learned in the spirit of his Master to be

“———to their faults a little blind

And to their virtues ever kind.”

In religious matters his disposition was graciously broad and Catholic. Firmly attached to the principles of his own Denomination, and never shrinking from avowing to what section of the Church his heart had been given, he recognised grace wherever he saw that God had implanted it, and thus obtained the cordial friendship of many whose views on doctrine and Church discipline he by no means shared. He thus solved, to a large extent, the problem of “loving the brotherhood” and at the same time of contending “earnestly for the faith once (for all) delivered to the saints.”

In this he was an exception to some who are deservedly regarded very highly among us. These forget that our Lord desired the visible union of His true people on earth and prayed “that they all” might “be one”—“as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Us.” They make no effort to keep “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” and while they pride themselves on having no intercourse with Christians from whom they differ, have hard things to say of those who while “they dwell among their own people” and reserve for them their best and choicest, confraternise with others whom they deem to be faithfully serving our common Lord, and lovingly help them for His sake.

Such ministrations were our brother’s delight, and some of the misunderstanding of which he was at times the subject may, we think, be accounted for by his willingness to minister occasionally to those who held “the Head,” but a few of whose sentiments on things non-essential differed from his own.

These things proved his unique qualifications as a denominational leader; and as such he was widely recognised by the Churches of our own “Faith and Order,” specially in East Anglia. Like our late friend John Box, of London, he had the rare art of gathering willing workers around him; maintaining their confidence and adherence; and keeping them in loyal and loving touch with himself, each other, and with the principles he deemed scriptural. His own zeal animated others, and even some who did not always regard his proceedings with entire favour, and such there indubitably were, felt constrained to admit the importance and value of his self-denying labours in the cause of God and truth.

Of his personal religion we can say but little. He seemed to shrink from parading himself and his spiritual experiences. Those, however, who were in closest fellowship with him often felt the quiet force of the inner grace he possessed. Humiliating confessions of his own unworthiness, sinfulness and corruption, were wholly foreign to his character and absent from his preaching. The business of his life was rather to spread the name and fame of the Lord he loved and to extol the grace that had saved him in its glorious freedom and abounding fulness.

Such were some of the observed traits of the character of him whom God has recalled; and the story of whose life briefly told will doubtless interest the reader.

Biographical 

His family were of Dutch extraction. He was born in Southwark on July 26th, 1822, and was one of twins, the other dying when a babe. He also was so delicate that in his infancy he was not expected to live. In 1836 his father removed to Reading, but did not long survive the change. In the following year his mother returned to London, in which his later boyhood and early manhood were passed.

These were days of great religious activity in the Metropolis, and he treasured the memory, in after years, of eminent preachers whom he saw and heard when quite a lad. Among these was Rowland Hill, then of great age, of whom and his preaching he had a distinct and vivid recollection.

The name of the man of God who was made savingly useful to him we do not know, but “the Lord met with him”—to use the time-honoured phrase—when but twenty years of age. He joined the Church at East Street, Walworth, George Moyle, of Peckham, of fragrant memory, receiving him into the visible Church by baptism. Thus his Christian career commenced. 

Good men have spoiled themselves by attempting too much. As a rule, “the cause of God and of truth” is most efficiently and permanently served by ministers who persistently and exclusively pursue the line of ministry for which they were Divinely qualified.

“‘Tis not a work of small import the Pastor’s cure demands;

The work might fill an angel’s heart; it filled the Saviour’s hand.”

“This one thing I do” has thus been the evident motto of the majority of those servants of God whose memory lives in the hearts of the gracious and godly.

To this rule there are, however, exceptions. On some eminently devoted men the gift of versatility is bestowed and they would be false to themselves were not all their varied talents utilized in the service of God and His Church. Had Morley Punshon been content with his splendid reputation as “the prince of preachers”; had Andrew Head restricted his life-work to his own people, and closed his eyes to the needs of idiots and fatherless children; had Spurgeon allowed the incessant claims of the pulpit to monopolise his time and energy, and refused the work which his College and Orphanage imposed—how much poorer would this sad world have been. All must applaud the way in which such men gave their whole powers to the work of the Lord.

This well applies to him to whose memory these pages are inscribed. His gifts were many, and he grudged no effort needful for their utilization. Thus he made full proof of his ministry at a time and in a sphere which demanded the good offices of a leader of very varied powers.

When, as we judge, about twenty years of age, he was articled to an architect named Wallace, a specious and inefficient man; who is mainly remembered by the unsatisfactory character of the work he left behind him.

With him he, however, seems to have remained for a lengthened period, during which he acquired a competent knowledge of his profession. Ere the engagement ceased he was appointed Supervisor or Clerk of the Works at the rebuilding of the nave of the Church of Saint Saviour’s, Southwark, now Southwark Cathedral, about the year 1850. 

[This great and splendid structure, which is close to the Surrey side of Loudon Bridge, is one of the most ancient and noted of the churches of the metropolis. To it the martyrs were brought in 1555 to hear their sentence of ecclesiastical condemnation from the lips of Bishop Bonner. Its monuments and its stained glass windows to the memory of eminent Protestants and other celebrities are most interesting. The way in which Wallace obtained the contract for the work mentioned above was most discreditable and what was then done had to be undone about fifteen years ago by the rebuilding of the nave. Sir W. Besant, in his “Bell of Saint Paul’s,” chapter 3, states that quite needlessly in 1850 “the stout old walls of the ruined nave were pulled down and a thing of ugliness and meanness erected in its place. The Bishop’s Chapel was destroyed, as would have been the Lady Chapel as well, but for the courage of one man, “George Gwilt, a true architect who had a real interest in the place. Mr. Bland once told the writer that it was believed by some that Wallace was the prototype of the hypocritical Pecksniff—a character in a celebrated work of fiction which was being issued in parts at the very time (1850) that the work of the restoration of Saint Saviour’s was proceeding—in which, as stated above, he took part.]

Of his architectural ability we may judge from the chapels he designed—notably the Martyrs’ Memorial, Beccles. He continued to exercise this profession for many subsequent years. Though other duties engaged his attention, we believe that this was the secular avocation for which he deemed himself most fitted and which he practiced with the greatest pleasure.

[On April 30th, 1843, he joined “The Anti-Corn Law Leagne,” and in the October of the same year connected himself with “The British Association.” In both instances the words “Architectural Draughtsman” are appended to his name.]

An ingenious invention which he patented led to his becoming an exhibitor at the first great International Exhibition of 1851.

[Our late friend and fellow-student, J. Lewis Keys, told us that his father and Mr. Bland were neighbours in Lisson Grove and that he well remembered this circumstance. The invention, he said, was a process by which ordinary glass was made to resemble porphyry, alabaster, marble or other costly stone.]

Call To The Ministry

He afterwards engaged in a commercial enterprise which proved far from successful. It is probable that the way was thus made clear to him that it was God’s pleasure that he should eventually devote himself exclusively to the Christian ministry and the unique service for which he will be so long remembered.

When he was twenty-three years of age, “The Christian Instruction Society” were holding services in a tent on Kennington Common, at which his help was solicited. So well was this his first effort received that other invitations quickly followed, and for eight years he served the Churches as an occasional preacher, with growing acceptance. 

Cheshunt, 1853-1855

In 1853 he accepted a call to the Pastorate of a Church at Cheshunt, Herts. At his recognition Thomas Jones, then of Chatham; William Allen, of Cave Adullam Chapel, Stepney; Geo. Wyard, of Soho; his early and attached friend Geo. Moyle, who five years previously had commenced his long ministry at Rye Lane, Peckham; and other honoured brethren took part. Here he ministered statedly for about three years.

Chesham, 1860-1864

Four years later he removed to Chesham, Bucks. Here also his Pastorate was comparatively short; but his name was fragrant and he was invariably welcomed by his old friends long after his stated labours among them had ceased.

Co-Pastorate At Beccles, 1864-1868

On leaving Chesham, his next removal, which affected the whole course of his future life and ministry, took place. The infirmities of age were at this time telling heavily upon the revered George Wright, the senior pastor of the Strict Baptist Ministers in Suffolk, who had served the Cause at Beccles for forty-two years. The help of a ministerial colleague was therefore imperative. Our friend, four years previously, had been engaged professionally as architect to the new chapel. This had led to his introduction to the Eastern Counties and to his acquaintance with the aged pastor, which eventually ripened into the most cordial friendship. To him in their perplexity and need the Church and congregation therefore looked, and it being known that his relations with his Chesham friends pointed to the expediency of his removal, he was invited to become assistant minister at Beccles, Mr. Wright himself assuring him that ”he knew of no one whom he could more heartily welcome in the Lord.”

To solicitations so cordial he could but respond, and he filled the office of co-pastor—always an anomalous one,—with credit for four years. Signs and tokens of Divine approval were by no means lacking, though, after a short time, the anticipated fulness of blessing was not enjoyed. Some seals, however, manifested that the matter had been of the Lord.

In 1868 he tendered his resignation, and in 1869 Mr. Wright is again mentioned in the Report of the Association as the sole minister.

It is pleasing to add that, while the ministerial union ceased, the mutual friendship between the pastor and his colleague continued—“nay,” as he tells us, “as the end of Mr. Wright’s pilgrimage drew on, it increased and was felt at least by me to be growingly precious.”

The Unmerited Bishop, 1869-1900

The conviction at this time appears to have come upon him that he could do more good as a friend and helper of the Churches at large than as the minister of one congregation. He could not but be aware of his peculiar and varied gifts. The needs of his denomination in Suffolk and Norfolk appealed loudly to him. He therefore cheerfully responded when his pulpit labours were sought, and gradually became a recognised guide and counsellor in a large area.

The importance and value of such a ministry at this juncture to the body as a whole can hardly be overrated. The time for its exercise was opportune. The settled pastors who had long borne the chief burden of denominational responsibility were advanced in years. George Wright had been compelled to resign the secretaryship of the Association in 1865, and his more public labours had practically terminated. John Cooper, of Wattisham, and Samuel Collins, of Grundisburg, were advanced in years. R. E. Sears, of Laxfield, though exercising a ministry which was full of promise, was too young to be recognised as a leader by the associated Churches. Charles Hill, then in the fulness of his splendid powers, stood alone. The other settled ministers, though indubitably godly and fervent in spirit, had neither the natural gifts, the acquired knowledge, nor the moral dignity, which are needful for those who occupy positions of prominence.

Moreover, the educational status of the members of our Churches had greatly improved, and even rustic hearers had begun to appreciate correctness of diction and culture of style in those that occupied their pulpits. The ministry of someone who had observed diligently, read widely and thought deeply was therefore greatly to be desired.

It was soon admitted that our friend’s gifts and grace qualified him to fill a peculiar and unique position in relation to his section of the denomination. In 1865 he was received into the Association as Mr. Wright’s colleague, or co-pastor. In the Report for this year he is referred to as “our beloved brother Bland, late of Chesham, Bucks,” who had been sent by a gracious Providence to share the ministry of our venerable pastor, and who is commended “as a long-tried and faithful servant of the Lord.”

In 1867, by the request of the associated ministers and messengers, he submitted his first Circular Letter on “The Christian’s Imitation of Christ,” to the annual Assembly. In 1870, though his pastoral work at Beccles had ceased, his name appears as a member of an important committee appointed by the ministers and messengers at the annual meeting. He likewise is stated to have seconded a resolution on the question of national education, which had been moved by Samuel Collins, and which affirmed that “Any scheme of national education should be confined strictly to secular knowledge, but that the free reading of the Bible (which is the foundation of England’s prosperity), without note or comment, written or oral, should be secured.”

In June, 1871, the Association met at Pulham St. Mary, when it was unanimously agreed “that brother S. K. Bland, a member of the Beccles Church, being present, be invited in future to attend its business transactions.” Thus, though neither a pastor nor a delegate, his peculiar relation to his brethren was defined and recognised.

Henceforth he became an “institution” among the Strict Baptists of East Anglia, and “Mr. Bland, of Beccles,” was known far and wide as a sort of unordained Bishop, on whom devolved “the care of all the Churches.” In fact, as the veteran pastors one by one ceased their labours, he and Charles Hill, of Stoke Ash—at that time his attached and cordial friend—came to be regarded as the acknowledged leaders of the cause of the higher Calvinism and Strict Communion in Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex.

It is noticeable how soon his personal views and convictions began to affect the proceedings of the brethren. The claims of “The German Mission ” under the direction of his friend Oncken, or Hamburg, received the recognition of the Association, and liberal contributions were made by the Churches on its behalf. “The Baptist Building Fund,” “The Baptist Tract Society,” the short-lived “Baptist Sunday School Union,” and “The Theological Institution” at Bury, Lancashire, were also brought before the notice of the Association. At subsequent gatherings, grants of money were voted to “The Baptist Union” in recognition of the services of this great community to the cause of evangelical truth and to the ancient “Widows’ Fund,” which had generously extended its help to beneficiaries in Norfolk and Suffolk.

In 1879 he removed to Ipswich, partly for family reasons, but very largely that he might the better pursue the work which had been entrusted to him of the Lord.

A brief account of a long and strenuous life is by no means easy to write. Many events of importance must perforce be passed unnoticed. Others to which reference is made cannot be duly explained, and the crude sketch often leaves but an imperfect, if not an incorrect, impression of the instructive whole. This the writer feels as he presents a few further facts of a career which so largely affected an entire section of the Baptist Denomination.

Personal History

Of the social life of our deceased friend little need be said. He was thrice married and survived his last wife by some years. His first was a daughter of Mr. William Higgs, the builder of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, in whose praise so much is said in “C. H. Spurgeon’s Autobiography.” He was “one of his Pastor’s own spiritual children, and subsequently became an honoured deacon of the Church, and one of the dearest personal friends and most generous helpers that he ever had.”

His daughter was worthy of such a father, and is tenderly remembered by all that knew her. She was, however, called home early, leaving a family of little children to mourn her loss. A booklet entitled “The Field and the Garner,” published by her husband, relates the story of her short married life.

This connection led to our friend’s introduction to Mr. Spurgeon, and to his being invited to take part in the first meeting in the Tabernacle on August 21st, 1860, while the building was still unfinished. Their relations, however, never seem to have been close or cordial. The great preacher, by honest conviction, was a follower of Andrew Fuller. This S. K. Bland emphatically was not; which goes far to explain the fact that they did not come into closer association.

He next married Miss Deborah Carr, of St. Neot’s; but his union with this gracious lady was too brief greatly to affect his future career.

His third wife was a cousin of Lord John Lawrence, whose intrepid statesmanship when Governor of the Punjaub enabled him under Providence to stern the tide of rebellion when so many Sepoy regiments mutinied in 1857, and earned for him the title of the “Saviour of India.” Subsequently he was sent out as Governor-General in 1863, and on his final retirement from civil and military life he was chosen first Chairman of the School Board of London.

She was an amiable and cultured lady, who made him a help-meet indeed, her influence affecting his whole future for good. Their home—especially during their residence at Ipswich—was the abode of unostentatious but most generous hospitality. It was evidently part of their recognised mission for the Lord to “use hospitality without grudging” (1 Peter 4:9), and they loved to entertain their large circle of friends in the most genial way. The social influence which was acquired had, we believe not a little to do with his high position in the county.

The Author

He had a facile and prolific pen. His contributions were numerous—more than can now be stated with confidence. 

[The following list of his chief separate publications has been furnished to the writer. Circular Letters: On the Christian’s Imitation of Christ, Christian Work among the Young, Church Officers and their Duties, and Justification. “A Chart of History to the Birth of Christ,” which received the warm commendation of Dr. Kitto. “Biology,” a treatise on created life in its varied phases, and “Memorials of George Wright.” Full reports were also issued in local journals of many of his lectures—those for instance on “Memory,” “Woman, her Province, Place and Power,” “My Visit to Rome,” in 1875, “The Love of Nature, and the Advantages which Accrue from it,” a subject in which he felt the greatest interest.]

As early as 1844 an article of his appeared in the “Gospel Herald,” of which he subsequently became joint editor with John Cooper, of Wattisham. Former volumes of “The Baptist Messenger,” and “Pearls from the Golden Stream,” likewise demonstrate his untiring desire to extend the truth he prized. He loved to chronicle the sayings and doings of men whom God had owned in the past; and his personal recollections and extensive reading invariably enabled him to produce what was interesting and instructive.

His ”Memorials of George Wright” we regard as the best of its kind which has emanated from our section of the Church. He was happy in his subject, for a Christian minister more worthy of a full- length portrayal never existed. A deeply-taught child of God, a ripe and varied scholar, a preacher of rare power, the most faithful of pastors, the firmest of friends, the most judicious of counsellors and an almost unparalleled theologian, the character, capacities and prolonged career of George Wright, of Beccles, “the silver-tongued prophet of Suffolk,” invited the discriminating appreciation which they did not fail to receive in our late friend’s volume.

Perhaps, however, his power of composition is best displayed in his Circular Letter on “Christian Work Among The Young,” a brief extract from which may here be given:

“If any, gazing on the condition of still outcast children—homeless and friendless, crafty beyond their years, hardened by hardships, their ignorance of good only equalled by their acquaintance with evil—if any, sighing over such with irrepressible pity, are tempted to despair of their reformation, deeming it a field too hard for their ploughshare, too overrun with weeds to repay cultivation—let them go to those bright spots in our great cities where the courage of a living faith has attempted great things for God and man, and, constrained by His love for them, and their own love even to such, for His sake, have obtained precious victories.

This is not fanaticism—it is Christianity. We must not call it visionary, for all is ‘possible to him that believeth’; and while the parable of the prodigal son remains on the sacred page, there is hope for the outcast who ‘is a heaviness to his mother’; who, though he has ‘spent his substance in riotous living’ in ‘a far-off country,’ when he comes to himself, remembers a father’s home and still believes in a father’s forgiveness. This priceless parable affirms not only the power of a parent’s love, but the abiding nature of early teaching.

‘Though seed be buried long in dust, it shan’t deceive our hope;

The precious grain can ne’er be lost, for grace ensures the crop.’

One-third of most of our congregations are children, as are also at least, half of the households of believers. This enforces the truth that we are unfaithful to the providence of God, if we minister to adults solely, and for their sakes only, arrange the order of our solemn assemblies. Our preaching and our teaching, our daily walk and our Sabbath talk should be adapted as much to every age as to every class.

We do not believe it is enough that our school-children should have a remote gallery provided for them in which to sit during a long service, the only parts of which at all fitted to their capacities—at least, the younger portion of them—too often being the Scriptures read, and these generally of all that could be chosen the least suited to their understanding, and, when accompanied by exposition, probably less so still! How rarely do those of the congregation who themselves enjoy the ministry give a thought to its adaptation to the young who are up aloft. Is it right to constrain the attendance of so large a part of those that are present and to address ourselves exclusively to the rest, who come voluntarily, without ever having a separate service for the benefit of young folk?”

A generation has passed since these words were penned, during which our Suffolk Sabbath-schools have undergone great changes, which must be largely attributed to the writer of these words and those whose convictions and sympathies were with him.

One of his latest efforts for the welfare of his brethren was the establishment of “The Pastors’ Conference,” an Association somewhat resembling the different Metropolitan “fraternals.” It is a Union of settled ministers, who meet four times a year by appointment at one of their chapels. The morning and afternoon are devoted to prayer, praise, and the discussion of a prearranged subject. A tea and public meeting follows, and a collection to defray the travelling and other expenses which have been incurred. Thus, in various ways he acted as a denominational pioneer, inciting others to pursue methods which, if novel, he thought would prove advantageous to the Churches of the county.

Closing Years

As time ran its course, he quietly pursued his allotted ministry both in East Anglia and the Metropolis, in which he was always welcomed. For about twenty-five years he was the honoured secretary of the Association, and at the annual gatherings was regarded as essential to the conduct of the different meetings. He also acted as treasurer for the Suffolk and Norfolk Home Mission, an admirable Society, which aids by small pecuniary grants settled ministers, who statedly conduct village services, in addition to their pastoral work.

So highly were his labours valued that, as his treasured friend and colleague, Wm. Ling, states, “he was in 1898 presented with a massive marble clock, an arm-chair, and a cheque, as expressions of the grateful appreciation of his numerous friends.”

He Will Be Remembered as a kind and courtly gentleman, with little or no clericalism in his demeanour; earnest, but with a fund of pleasant humour; well-informed on all current topics, but never tedious or pedantic; gracious in his habitual conversation, but with no forced sanctimoniousness; and as his friend, Pastor J. E. Hazelton, testified at his funeral, “a right good listener.” More cannot here be added.

The Final Period

Some years since a gradual failure of his intellectual powers became evident. At length he ceased to recognize familiar faces or to grasp the significance of current circumstances, till at last he could understand nothing that was said to him unless it referred it some striking passage of Scripture, when it was evident that he was leaning steadily on those glorious doctrines of sovereign grace which he had delighted to publish in his prolonged ministry. Thus, though he could neither read nor write nor think connectedly, he never found the time wearisome. He was kept in perfect peace, his mind being stayed upon his Covenant God, in Whom through grace he had so long and surely trusted.

The end came on August 20th, 1908, when “God’s finger touched him and he slept.” He was in his 86th year. “Thus,” again adds his honoured successor, our friend William Ling, “his long and useful life in the Master’s service ended, and he is now reaping his reward in the glory-world through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

His mortal remains await the morning of the resurrection in Ipswich Cemetery, at which a very large concourse of friends of all denominations attended to see him to his “long home.”

W. Jeyes Styles