The Life And Ministry Of John Brand

Vessel Earth 1895:

The Late John Brand, Of Wickham Market

A Brief Memoir Of The Late John Brand, Of Wickham Market, Son Of The Late Joseph Brand, The Faithful Pastor Of The Church At Bungay, Suffolk

“The memory of the just is blessed.”

Our departed brother was born at Thundersley, Essex, on August 8, 1843. While the influence and training of his godly parents (to which he often alluded) was not lost upon him, he soon gave evidence that he was born in sin, though presented from going to the excess of wickedness to which many have gone. From a child there were exercises of mind concerning his state as a sinner before God. The work of grace in his soul was of gradual development. He could never point to any special time or place where it was begun, and this was, at times, all through life a trial to him. He has said that very often, when in the company of other young men, the thought would powerfully strike him, “my father is praying for me.” His after life was a living answer to those parental prayers. He was apprenticed as a youth to Messrs. Garrett & Sons, Engineers, Leiston. After his apprenticeship he removed to Wickham Market, and then to London, where it was hi privilege to sit under the ministry of the late beloved John Hazelton, which was made a great blessing to him; here it was his thirsty soul would drink in the water of life, and while “hoping against hope,” the clear Gospel ministry of dear brother H., was a great comfort to him, while the spirituality of God’s law was to him a condemning power. To the last moments our dear brother loved to speak of the seasons spent under this ministry, and tell of his love to the Lord’s faithful servant.

He returned to Wickham Market, and on January 8, 1872, married Matilda, daughter of the late Robert Bird, Baptist Minister, Rattlesden. Entering the service of Messrs. Whitemore and Binyon, he was soon placed in the responsible position of general foreman, which he held with honor to the last. During the early part of his marriage he attended under the pastorate of Mr. Jackson, a man of God, who proclaimed a full Christ to empty sinners. He always spoke of him with great respect. Mr. Jackson’s successor was a duty-faith man, and our brother was often compelled to withstand him to the face. Unable longer to get food for his soul here, he walked over the Charsfield, and there found a settled rest, and has left the savor of a sweet service behind him. Here, on October 28, 1877, he was baptized by brother Grimwood, now of Stonham, and the following month was, with his dear wife (who was dismissed from the Church at Halesworth), received into the fellowship of the Church. 

He became superintendent of the Sunday-school, and to the last evinced a deep loving interest in the work. Will not some of his old scholars, as they read these lines, recall many a happy season with him, and treasure up his plain and faithful teaching, notably, perhaps, that powerful address of his on “Christ the hiding-place,” during a severe storm one Lord’s-day afternoon? On August 4, 1878, he was called to the office of deacon, and filled it “well.” His fellow deacon, brother Symonds, writes me, “I have known him eleven years, and have been a close associate with him, nearly all that time having gone to the house of God with him, and always found him to be a man that I could look up to for good sound counsel and judgment; and he was blessed with an extraordinary retentive memory; he sustained this office with uprightness and integrity until the day of his death. 

In 1886. our dear brother was called to pass through a heavy trial in the loss of his loved companion. After a most trying affliction she entered her eternal rest on August 4. Sweet to the memory of the writer are some of those hallowed seasons spent at her bedside. Hers was a choice spirit, deeply taught in the things of God. Two sons and three daughters were left to mourn her loss.

The Lord, however, graciously appeared for our brother and again found him a true help-meet in the person of Janet Johnson Irving·, of Dumfries, Scotland. They were married by the writer at Framlingham, on December 27, 1887. The Lord comfort our dear sister in her deep sorrow.

Our brother was the first to propose the enfranchisement of the chapel at Charsfield, and in a few months was raised the sum of £78 6s. 51⁄2d. for that purpose, and placing the building in the hands of new trustees.

In January, 1894, he was sent out by the Church to preach the everlasting Gospel wherever the Lord might open a door for him. He bears his witness to its power now in “nobler scenes above”.

For several months before he died, he was in a very weak state, and it was evident that an internal complaint was getting the mastery, though he was never closely confined to his bed. As he expressed a wish to see me, I hurried down by the first train on Monday, November 26, and spent a few hours with him. ‘What a change’. The strong man bowed in weakness, and the end evidently near. Oh, what glory filled his soul as he conversed on the truths of the everlasting Gospel! To all who visited him he talked of his Lord, and the power of His grace. His tongue was as the pen of a ready writer. He was dwelling in the very precincts of heaven. 

In a most touching letter from his dear daughter, Annie, in which she recalls that loving father’s wise counsel, the joy of her Christian home, the privileges of family worship, &c., she names her last visit with her brothers and sister to bid the dear one farewell, and adds, “I shall never forget, when we were all in the room with him, the expression of his face when he said, ‘I cannot tell you, my children, how precious Christ is to me now, and the truths of His Gospel are indeed a solid reality.'”

About two hours before he died, he asked to be laid comfortably in bed, saying he would “try and get a little sleep.” On his dear wife then asking if Jesus was precious, he exclaimed, “Precious! Ah! He is indeed. My joy is almost more than I can bear; and He will be precious to you too.” These were his last words. From that calm and peaceful sleep he awoke no more to a world of sin and suffering. Oh, blessed sleep, from which none ever wake to weep! This was Monday, December 10.

On the following Saturday the mortal remains were laid to rest by brother Suggate in the presence of the sorrow-stricken widow and family, a large concourse of people, with many from the bereaved Church at Charsfield, also the principals of the firm, Messrs. Whitemore and Binyon, with the workmen among whom our brother had long laboured.

Brother Suggate improved the solemn event the following Lord’s-day, at Charsfield, from the words, “He being dead, yet speaketh.” 

On the Saturday ere he departed to his rest, our dear brother solemnly and earnestly committed to his heavenly Father’s care his dear wife, children—then the cause at Charsfield—and last his dear aged mother. The Lord abundantly answer those solemn pleadings of His dearly-loved servant, prays E. Marsh, Stratford.