The Life And Ministry Of James Mote

Earthen Vessel 1898:

James Mote, Solicitor, Metropolitan Association Of Strict Baptist Churches, Etc.

The following narrative has been compiled at the request of the Trustees of this Magazine, as the subject of it having been connected with the Strict Baptist body for half a century, his knowledge of the changes that have taken place in it during that period to which it refers, they think may prove interesting to our readers:—

It was about 50 years since, as far as my memory will serve me, that I had any concern about my soul’s salvation, when I was the subject of several dreams that the day of judgment had come, and I was unprepared for it. The impression thus made upon my mind never forsook me, but caused me great anxiety, and led to a careful perusal of the Scriptures to ascertain from them, if I possibly could, what my future state would be if I should suddenly be ushered into an unseen and unknown world.

After reading through the Scriptures from beginning to end, which took me nearly two years, I found myself unable thoroughly to understand them or to satisfy myself as to my future state and condition when I had left the world.

I was now the subject of great inward searching of heart, feeling conscious that all was not right between my soul and God. I felt that I had been the subject of unnumbered mercies since I drew my first breath, for which I was not sufficiently grateful to my heavenly Father, which was quite contrary to my conduct toward my fellow-men, but how to account for it I was at a loss to imagine. I, however, was satisfied that there must be something wrong on my part in thus acting towards one who had been so good to me and this caused me further uneasiness without being able to find a remedy.

On one occasion, whilst in this frame of mind, I had to visit an uncle who lived at Clerkenwell, and on my way thither on the Lord’s-day morning I had to go through Newgate-street, and entered the Church of England there belonging to Christ’s Hospital. On my entrance the minister was reading the passage of Scripture contained in the Prayer-book, which is as follows:—”To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against Him: neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in His laws which He set before us” (Dan. 9:9,10). I could not afterwards recall any part of his sermon, but these words followed me, and led me to see that I was the character described by them, and the hope of forgiveness held out by them was very comforting to my mind.

This led me to attempt to work out my own salvation, which I did with fear and trembling, being then ignorant of the Lord’s way. My first step was to give up my worldly friends and acquaintances, forsake my worldly pleasures, and destroy the whole of Lord Byron’s works, which had been presented to me by a gentleman with whom, as a young man, I was a great favourite. I had a great struggle before committing these works to the flames, but although I was tempted to give them away to one of my former companions, yet the fact that by doing so I should only be subjecting him to the same evil temptations and thoughts they had caused in my mind, and thus spreading the poison they contained in a greater measure than I could possibly be aware of, fixed my determination and ended in their destruction.

I now attended the Church of England, in which I had been brought up, and enjoyed the preaching of Mr. Gibson and others, who officiated at St. George’s Church in the Borough, where I worshipped. The duty of partaking of the Lord’s Supper, which was often insisted upon and referred to in the minister’s discourses, led me to apply to partake of it, but I found that I was disqualified from doing so, never having been baptised; for my father, although a very consistent member of the Church of England, never would have any of his children baptised, or, as we understood it, christened. I now, therefore, had to submit to this ordinance, and as I was of age (about 24) I was not required to find a godfather, but was simply examined as to my knowledge of the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Belief—all of which I had learnt at school. I merely mention this fact to show that the Church of England is, in its way, Strict Baptist, as well as our denomination, the only difference being as to the subject and mode, and the privilege of partaking of the Lord’s Supper is only allowed to those who have been baptised, and thus become a member of the Church.

My stay in the Church of England was not long, for I soon found that there was no communion or fellowship amongst the members thereof, or any bond of union existing between them, and our only opportunity of meeting each other was on the Sunday or week-day service, and then we were divided from each other by the pews we then occupied.

Owing to this I was led to speak to my uncle, Mr. E. Mote, the hymn- writer and preacher, and lay before him my case. He advised me to go and hear the different Dissenting ministers in the South of London, and see whether, by uniting myself to one of their Churches, my spiritual wants should not be met. I also told him of the great difficulty I was under in endeavouring to understand the doctrine of election, of which I had lately heard, but could not understand; and to help me to do so, he, after explaining it, lent me Toplady’s works, and recommended a careful perusal of them, which I gave, rising as early as four or five in the morning to read them quietly before going to business. I also read Zanchy on predestination.

The result of my reading these works, coupled with my Bible and the Prayer-book, was this: I found in my Prayer-book that the doctrine of election was held by the Church of England, and is thus expressed in the 17^th of her Articles of Religion, as set forth in the Prayer-book:—

“17.—Of Predestination and Election.

“Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid) He hath constantly decreed by His counsel, secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom He hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour. Wherefore, they which be endued with so excellent a benefit of God be called according to God’s purpose by His Spirit working in due season: they, through grace, obey His calling: they be justified freely: they be made sons of God by adoption: they be made like the image of His only begotten Son Jesus Christ: they walk religiously in good works, and at length, by God’s mercy, they attain to everlasting felicity.

“As the godly consideration of predestination and our election in Christ is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly persons, and such as feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ mortifying the works of the flesh and their earthly members, and drawing up their minds to high and heavenly things, as well because it doth greatly establish and confirm their faith of eternal salvation to be enjoyed through Christ, as because it doth fervently kindle their love towards God: So, for curious and carnal persons lacking the Spirit of Christ to have continually before their eyes the sentence of God’s predestination is a most dangerous downfall, whereby the devil doth thrust them either into desperation or into wretchedness of most unclean living no less perilous than desperation.”

This, however, did not satisfy me, for although I read in Rom. 9:11, “For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth,” yet I found in the next chapter Paul using the following words: “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.”

I was unable to make the two agree, and for a length of time was in great distress on account of it, and this led me to a throne of grace for light and tranquility of mind upon the subject, and in reply to my requests the Lord directed my attention to the following verse: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” and there I have been enabled to leave it. I have since read Elisha Coles on God’s Sovereignty, conversed with numbers of our more eminent pastors upon the subject, and other ministers and Christian friends, and heard hundreds of sermons relating thereto, but have never yet been able to fathom the subject, and am compelled to say, with Paul: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God? how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!”

The perusal of Toplady’s works, and especially the following verse of his celebrated hymn,

“A debtor to mercy alone,

Of covenant mercy I sing,

Nor fear with Thy righteousness on

My person and offering to bring;

The terrors or law and of God

With me can have nothing to do,

My Savionr’s obedience and blood

Hide all my transgressions from view,”

so fixed in my mind the knowledge of my own election to eternal life, that I have never since had the least doubt about it; and although I am unacquainted with the manner of its accomplishment, yet I can say, with the man who was born blind, “One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”

The position of the heathen world with reference to the doctrine of election also much occupied my thoughts, and I once spent a considerable time in talking with our late brother, John Foreman, upon the subject; but to my surprise I found that what troubled me upon the subject had never troubled him, and that his idea of preaching the Gospel was not to do so to every creature, but confine it, as far as he was concerned, to the saints who were to be found in Hill-street, Dorset-square, and amongst the Strict Baptists generally, which he did for many years, with very great acceptance to his numerous hearers.

After hearing the greater part of the South London ministers, including the late James Wells, Joseph Irons, and others, I visited Unicorn Yard Chapel, in Tooley-street, and heard the late Mr. Bonner, and ultimately settled down there, and was baptised by him. At that time the Church (of which the late Dr. Gill and David Denham had been the pastors) was one of the oldest Baptist Churches in London, dating back from the time of Charles II. Our membership was upwards of 200, as well as I can remember; and at the ordination of our pastor, Messrs. Wells, Foreman, Wyard, Dickerson, Palmer, and others, were present, all of whom have since passed away. For a time I was very happy with my fellow-members, and much enjoyed their society and the services of God’s house, and formed many friendships, which only terminated with the deaths of my brethren. I could then sincerely sing—

“There my best friends, my kindred dwell;

Their God, my Saviour reigns.”

I was soon chosen one of the deacons, and endeavoured to serve the Church, according to the best of my ability; but I early found that the office of deacon was not a bed of roses, for our pastor’s temper was not that of an angel. He was then known in the denomination as Bishop Bonner, in allusion to a name-sake who, lived in the days of Queen Mary, and in asserting his authority in the Church his conduct was so offensive to many of the members that a very large number of them left and never returned, amongst whom were several of my dearest friends. This was afterwards followed up by his practising mesmerism upon some of the members, both male and female, for which he had a great liking, and considered himself skilful at it, but it met with the disapproval of several of the remaining members; and in the end, owing to the decline in the Church and congregation, and our inability to support him, he left.

After our pastor had left, we had to depend upon supplies, and became so reduced in numbers that, although we had a large but very old chapel, we were in the cold weather compelled to worship in the vestry, where we could have a fire. In addition to this, the building was in such a bad state of repair that, to render it waterproof and repair it, a large outlay had to be incurred, which came to between £100 and £200. My fellow-deacon was a carpenter and builder, and did what was necessary; but, owing to the impoverished state of the Church, he had to give us credit for the amount of his bill.

At this time I made the acquaintance of the late C. W. Banks, the proprietor of the Earthen Vessel, and a friendship was formed between us which lasted until his death. At that time he was the pastor of a Church meeting at Crosby-row, not far from Unicorn-yard, and his Church was paying a large rent for the use of the building in which they worshipped. It was then arranged between us to form the two causes into one, which should worship at Unicorn-yard Chapel, and this was done; but, owing to the difficulty of ascertaining who were really the members of Unicorn-yard, because of its great age, it was thought better to dissolve the Church and immediately re-form it, reckoning those only as its members who should join the new Church. This was done, and the union of the two Churches took place, and C. W. Banks was appointed their pastor.

The election of C. W. Banks as such pastor gave great offence to the managers of a fund called the Baptist Fund, which was originated in the year 1717 by six London Baptist Churches, of whom the Church at Unicorn-yard was one, which had been supported by them and other Churches for upwards of a century, and is now possessed of property; the income whereof, amounting to upwards of £3,000 per annum, is distributed yearly amongst needy Churches and pastors of the Baptist denomination and students for the ministry, and they contended that, as the Church at Unicorn-yard had been dissolved, it had ceased to have any right in or to be represented at the fund. This the Church at Unicorn-yard denied, and insisted upon their right still to attend and take part in the administration of the fund. Legal aid was resorted to by both parties, but in the end a sum of £150 was offered by the managers of the fund to Unicorn-yard Chapel to withdraw from it, and under the circumstances, especially considering the heavy debt upon the chapel for repairs, it was deemed advisable to accept it, which the Church did, and, upon payment of the money, withdrew from the fund.

To make up, however, in some measure for this loss, I was elected to represent Little Wild-street Church, one of the original six which originated the fund, and did so for several years, and afterwards as a fundee, which I qualified for, have continued a member of the fund, and thus been enabled ever since to aid in helping our needy Churches and pastors, several of the latter of whom have been for years assisted by the fund.

About this time (1860) the Strict Baptist body was thrown into a state of great alarm, owing to the loss of two of their chapels—one at Norwich and the other at Ramsgate—caused by the imperfection of their trust deeds in not stipulating that the chapel was to be a Strict Baptist chapel, and no other, and several meetings of the Strict Communion Baptist Society were held upon the subject, owing to the disinclination of members to subscribe money for the erection of new Strict Baptist chapels without a certainty that they could not be taken away and used for other purposes. I was instructed to prepare a new form of trust deed to secure our new chapels, which was carefully settled by the Society, and has ever since been used by our body, the result of which has been that for a period of nearly forty years we have not lost another chapel.

I continued to serve the Church at Unicorn-yard for some time longer, during which I had the pleasure of seeing my dear wife (now in heaven) follow me in the ordinance of Christian baptism and join the Church, which was a great comfort to me, for, although the want of communion and fellowship in spiritual things between husband and wife is a great loss to the believer, and where it exists during the whole of the married life is a great cross to carry, yet, where both are united heart and hand in the things of God, the marriage relationship is one of the greatest blessings we can enjoy on earth, and the figure of the union between Christ and His Church alluded to by the apostle Paul is one that the believer fully understands, although it refers to a more lasting union than the one here which is bounded by time.

It was with some regret that I had to sever my connection with Union- yard Chapel; but, owing to the increase of my family, I had to remove to Lewisham, when I joined the Church meeting at Dacre-park, Blackheath, where I was soon again installed in the office of deacon, and where I hope to end my days. Here, again, during a period of upwards of thirty years, I have seen great changes in Church life. The place which at one time was a flourishing Church was some years since nearly broken up, owing to the divided opinions of the members respecting the pastor’s conduct, and which caused nearly half of them to leave and start a new cause, the effect of which has been disastrous to both, and injured us very much in the eyes of the neighbourhood, who expect better things from our body.

It was my privilege and pleasure during my acquaintance with the late C. W. Banks to aid in raising a fund for him, which was commenced in the year 1877, when a circular was issued and sent to his friends in the United Kingdom, and also in America and Australia, and the result was that a sum of £600 was raised by the Strict Baptists and other friends who loved the doctrines of free and distinguishing grace in acknowledgment of his disinterested labours for upwards of thirty-three years to serve the cause of truth, and presented to him at the Surrey Tabernacle, on Tuesday, January 13, 1880.

As to the present state of our body, in some respect, I think we have improved but in others not. Our pastors are now better educated than formerly. We now take an interest in mission work, Sunday-schools, and Bands of Hope, which fifty years since we did not. The Metropolitan Association of Strict Baptist Churches and the Strict Baptist Mission have also within the same time sprung into existence; the former, as most of our readers of the Earthen Vessel know, has a double object-viz., of securing the union of the London Churches and helping needy ones to repair and maintain their places of worship. The last report of the Metropolitan Association shows that 65 London Churches have now joined it, but it also discloses the fact that 23 of them are pastorless, and it is well known that the greater part of the pastors experience a great difficulty in obtaining an income suitable to their calling. In other respects the Society is doing a good work in helping struggling Churches with money to build and repair.

One great evil of our body, and a source of its weakness, is the multiplication of small causes, caused mostly by disagreements. These are generally unable to support themselves, and are kept going principally by supplies, and ought not to have a separate existence, but should be affiliated to the nearest mother Church and looked after by it.

Whether there is as much power in the pulpit as formerly, I doubt. The rapid advance during the last fifty years of scientific knowledge, including electricity, the telephone, phonography, and other discoveries, and the quick intercourse with all portions of the globe by steam, coupled with the fact that the news of the whole world is placed upon the pastor’s breakfast table every morning for one penny, and he cannot resist the perusal of his daily paper, has, I think, a distracting effect upon his mind, and engages it to a greater extent than he is aware of, and withdraws it from the study of the Book from whence, under the Spirit’s teaching, his usefulness and acceptability to his Church and people must come.

The dissensions also that exist amongst our body are not a credit to us, but a source of great weakness, and make us, in a measure, a contempt to the outside professing world, who from our high doctrine expect a corresponding life and Christ-like behaviour and conduct, in which, alas, as a body, we are wanting. [We had a sad instance of this a few years since in the estrangement that took place between our two great London leaders, Messrs. Wells and Foreman, caused originally by the former’s sermon on Rahab the Harlot, and which lasted until their death.] But I hope that the endeavours made by the Metropolitan Association of Strict Baptist Churches to unite our Churches in the bonds of Christian love will in the future remove them, and that we shall by our lives as well as our practice adorn the doctrine of Christ our Saviour in all things.