The Life And Ministry Of Robert Pym

Gospel Standard 1864:

Robert Pym, Late Rector Of Elmley, Yorkshire

The subject of the following brief memoir was one who lived much alone. He sought retirement, often saying to his friends that he did not wish to become a public character. But during the last few months of his life the Lord so powerfully blessed him that he repeatedly spoke and wrote to those friends who were favoured to have intercourse with him, requesting them to call upon the Lord’s people to praise him for the great favours with which he supported and comforted him on a dying-bed. Nothing could be more repulsive to his feelings than the idea of exalting a “hell-deserving sinner,” (as he frequently called himself,) but if the riches of grace could be magnified, and any of the Lord’s tried family “who, through fear of death, are all their lifetime subject to bondage,” might be encouraged by the relation of the Lord’s gracious dealings with him, then he would not object to such an attempt being made.

Mr. Pym was born July 15th, 1793. He was the third son of Francis Pym, Esq., of the Hasells, Bedfordshire. Early in life he entered business as a banker’s clerk in London, where he followed the devices and desires of his own sinful heart, and frequently, in after life, referred to that time with deep humiliation. But it was there that the Lord began the work of grace upon his soul. He felt burdened, but knew not what was the matter, and often sighed and mourned over his wretched condition. In this state he one day entered Christ Church, Newgate Street, and heard a sermon by the then Bishop of Lichfield (Ryder) on the words, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.’ (Gal. 2:20.) The text rather than the sermon powerfully affected his mind, and was the means of discovering to him the way of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, and he found “peace in believing,” though far from being acquainted with the deep truths revealed in the word, which, in later life, by the blessed teaching and power of the Holy Spirit, became the joy and rejoicing of his heart.

Soon after this, being much disposed to leave the monotonous employment of a banker’s clerk, and to seek the good of immortal souls, he determined to enter the ministry; and, after the usual college preparation, was in due time ordained. This he never spoke of without acknowledging the wonder-working hand of the Lord, and in most self-abasing terms would declare that God had chosen one of the weakest things of the world to preach “the truth as it is in Jesus.” He now earnestly besought the Lord that “his word might not return unto him void, but accomplish that which he pleased, and prosper in the thing whereto he sent it.” He has been known continually to spend hours on a Sabbath morning in prayer, seeking that he might be nothing, but, the Holy Spirit speaking in him and by him, God alone might be glorified.

At this time, while waiting for a field of labour, the heart of Lord Scarborough was inclined, through a mutual friend, to offer him a living in Yorkshire, which was then vacant. Lord Scarborough said it was a miserable neighbourhood, and no gentleman would like to live there; but a curate might be put in to do the duty. When this was mentioned to Mr. Pym, he at once said he should wish to do the work himself, and live amongst his people. He was, therefore, inducted into the rectory of Elmley, near Wakefield, in the year 1830, and there he continued to labour till 1861, when the Lord was pleased to lay him aside, that he might glorify him by nearly 12 months’ bodily weakness and suffering. During this time of sickness, he was permitted to enjoy so much of the revealed glory and blessedness of Jehovah, as manifested in the person of Jesus, that the poor tabernacle could scarcely contain the “joy unspeakable” with which he was at times filled to overflowing. For many years he was subject to much bondage through the fear of death, evident in letters written between the years 1846 and 1850, when the Lord appeared in a marked way, and delivered him from it by a blessed application to his soul of Heb. 5:7.

The last few months of his life he was so greatly favoured that he earnestly longed “to depart and to be with Christ,” of whose glory he was permitted so sweetly to taste on earth. In September, 1861, he wrote to a friend:

“I wish to reply to yours, that I may have the pleasure of once more communicating spiritually with you in our present state. We do not at any time know what a day may bring forth. But when the Lord’s hand is upon one so near the completion of the three-score years and ten, as I am now drawing to, it becomes me not to disregard the warning voice. Blessed be God, he will not let me do that. He has laid me by from public ministering. It is with much difficulty that I can now communicate my thoughts to you by means of pen, ink, and paper.”

Soon after the date of this letter, he was seized with epileptic fits, and became the subject of great darkness of soul. A member of his family attended him, and, by the order of the medical man, he was kept as quiet as possible; even those Christian friends with whom Mr. Pym delighted to hold intercourse being refused admittance into his room.

On Nov. 3rd, one of the Lord’s people, with whom he had held sweet communion and fellowship for upwards of 17 years, went to see him. After some difficulty, he had an interview with Mr. Pym. He found him in a state of most painful soul desertion. The Lord had permitted Satan for a season to tempt him, that, like Job, his faith might be tried, and, to use his own words, “that it might make room for the manifestation of the mighty power of God in delivering him out of such a state.” He was lying on the sofa, looking extremely dejected; and to his friend’s anxious inquiry, “How are you, Mr. Pym?” he replied, “You are come to see a deceived hypocrite.” He quoted many passages of Scripture which he thought appeared all against him, such as Heb. 6:4-6; 1 Cor. 3:12-15, 17; 1 Pet. 4:17, &c. &c. He said he had been in this state six weeks, without any ray of light or the least relief to the anguish of his spirit, and he thought the whole Bible seemed to tell against him. In vain did his friend try to explain the word, and to show how little the passages he quoted applied to him. He could receive no comfort. At length his friend said, “Well, Mr. Pym, I have come here to hear you preach for 17 years, and your aim has always been to lead people to look out of themselves to Christ, and now you are doing nothing but looking to yourself.” This appeared for a moment to give him relief, and Mr. Pym replied, “Thank you, thank you; I am, and have been doing nothing else for six weeks.” Soon after this, he sank back on the sofa, quite exhausted, and the friend left, with a solemn awful feeling that the enemy of souls was there, and that nothing but the almighty power of Jehovah Jesus could conquer this mighty foe and set the captive free.

This friend, on his homeward journey, stopped at the house of a dear child of God at Hebden Bridge, and there engaged in prayer with two or three of the Lord’s people on behalf of Mr. Pym. When, they rose from their knees, they each expressed their belief, from what they had felt in prayer, that deliverance would soon arrive. The Lord is faithful to his word; (Matt. 18:19;) and accordingly sent light and blessing into the soul of his dear servant that very evening. By 5 o’clock the next morning he rang for his servant to bring him pencil and paper, that he might write to his friend. He dated his letter, “Elmley, Monday morning, 5 a.m., Nov. 4th, 1861; in bed,” and commenced with, “Your visit has been blessed, very much blessed.” He then quoted about fifty passages of Scripture which had been the subject of his meditation that morning, and concluded thus:

“To retain our standing here, we have to fight the good fight of faith and to lay hold on eternal life. In this, Satan withstands and opposes us to the utmost; and in the present day there are but few who can meet the need of those who are brought to this. Those who are brought to this, what are they not made to experience of themselves and their indwelling sin! I must write no more, nor read this over. Pray for me. Pray for me, all and every one to whom it is given to pray in the faith of the gospel. 

“May I say, once more as heretofore,

“Yours affectionately in the Gospel,

“ROBERT PYN.”

Those who have never known these depths of Satan will not be able to understand the state of thraldrom and bondage which this servant of God experienced, nor can they fully appreciate the powerful deliverance which was granted. Such are ready to say, “He went too far. It was wrong of him to speak so decidedly of his condition,” but should such persons ever come into the same state, they will find that Satan is too powerful for any less than an almighty arm to control or subdue.

On Nov. 6th he wrote to the same friend:

“I have been one of the vilest of sinners. In me, that is in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing, but sensibly all that is evil. Nothing but gospel truth, ‘the truth as it is in Jesus,’ could possibly avail me anything under this present affliction. I have been the subject of fearful darkness of soul, the hidings of God’s face from me as he is in Christ. I have been in the deepest waters, and have endured a fiery furnace of soul trial, in which I have been made so acquainted with myself that I need not think it strange, as it seems impossible that I could be saved except by fire, a needs be existing that I should at this time be in heaviness through manifold temptations; that the trial of my faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ; whom, having not seen, I love; in whom, though now I see him not, yet believing I rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of my faith, even the salvation of my soul. I am deeply convinced and satisfied at this moment that I cannot yet be finally saved unless I am kept by the power of God through faith, and that to this keeping by God’s power through faith (God’s gift) must be ascribed my having continued under the trials which for so many years faith has been subjected to in me.”

Nov. 22nd he writes:

”I could indeed desire the company of some one of the Lord’s dear family, with whom it were permitted to me to talk familiarly about death and approaching eternity; but it is not allowed, on account of the extreme weakness of the brain, &c. The Lord, at times, has been most kind to me; wonderful things have been opened and discovered to me; precious things brought to my mind; but some seasons also of soul trial and darkness.”

The friend mentioned above visited Mr. Pym at intervals during the remainder of his days on earth, and usually found him rejoicing in God. But as no memorandum was taken of the conversations which occurred, we can best describe his state in his own words, from letters written to his friends at this time. The following are selected:

“Elmley, Jan. 18th, 1862. “My dear Fellow-member in the mystical body of which the ever-blessed, great, and glorious Lord Jesus is the Head, in whom the life of each one is safely hid and eternally secured in God. Glorious mystery! I would that I could communicate with you on the blessed things which, from time to time, are occupying my mind; but I have got past this by letter. I feel the want of some one to pray with, who could heart and soul join with me in my addresses, and prayers, and praises offered to the Divine Majesty on the throne of grace. I have been much tried in my mind since yesterday morning, on and off, at times feeling as though I were made up of two persons in my body and soul; and when incapable of serving the Lord, in and with my mind, sadly tried by seemingly knowing of nothing else of which Robert Pym was made, or which constituted R. P., but the body of sin and death. I have wept much at times. When alone, weeping this morning in my bed, I thought there was comfort set forth in the word respecting some that were weepers upon earth; and I have just been looking at Rev. 7:13, with the reply to the question put in that verse, contained in those which follow to the end of the chapter; and I conclude, as I did in bed this morning, that a weeping sinner, like me, may truly find much comfort from such a portion of the word of him that cannot lie. Our dear, ever-blessed Lord, when on earth, preached in the same comforting, consoling way, knowing that amongst his followers there would be weeping sinners on earth, who would be rejoicing saints in heaven, when he said, ‘Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.’ My head says, ‘Desist!’ So farewell, with Christian affection. From R. P.”

The next letter was written the following day:

“Elmley, Jan. 19th, 1862.

“My dear Friend in our ever-blessed Christ, Would that I could, in any little way, speak the praise of the Lord as I am called upon to do by his unspeakable goodness to me in every way, since I closed my last to you, about noon, yesterday. It would ill become me not to make the attempt. He blessed me at every turn, in every way, all yesterday, in temporal things, accompanying all with such spiritual comfort arid consolation that I was in the blessed enjoyment of the peace of God which passeth all understanding, in a way requiring you to be here, an eye-witness, and as far as you could be a soul-partaker, to be able to form any idea at all coming up to the reality. I had comfortable and refreshing sleep during many hours last night. From 4 this morning I had the presence of the Lord, and an unceasing communion with him, surpassing anything I ever before experienced, such freedom in pouring out my whole soul! The only thing I felt to need was to be out of the bondage of the body, the earthly house of this tabernacle, and actually with my soul in the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, mortality swallowed up of life, in that presence of Jesus which fills the whole soul, when out of the body, with a sensible participation of his glory, and enables it for a realization (with all other spirits made perfect in heaven) of that union which is of being in, and of one Spirit with the Lord. A dismission from the body, or release, seemed all that was wanting to be immediately so received into a present Christ, who fills all surrounding space immeasurably; to find myself at once in heaven, where is Christ’s visible presence, with that of all the holy angels around and before the throne of manifested glory, and the spirits of all the elect already gone before into that everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ, into which at death, we are assured from God’s word, an entrance has been (as it will be to you and me) abundantly manifested. My head says, ‘Write no more!’ Farewell, my dear brother. You know what my farewells would include, all blessings you can ever need, and all provided for you in Jesus. R. P.”

These two letters are sufficiently indicative of Mr. Pym’s experience at this time, though, as he drew nearer the end of his pilgrimage, he had less darkness and more manifested enjoyment. As the body became weaker, he became unable to write, even with the pencil, and he then employed his man servant to write at his dictation, to friends; and when too feeble to dictate, he would describe his case and have it written, reading it over afterwards, and adding a few words to render it more intelligible. The following is transcribed from one such letters:

“When I, in compliance with my master’s wishes, read to him various parts of the word, which he much enjoys, he says, ‘It is such precious food to his soul.’ Yesterday he directed me to read, amongst others, Psalm 19; and when at verse 10, remarked, ‘That is a just description of what the word is to me. If you can understand what a sugar-plum or barley-sugar is to children, you can understand something of what the Holy Spirit makes the word at times to me, in my present particular situation, both in hearing it read, and also when meditating upon it.'” 

The friend who visited him on Nov. 3rd, spent about five weeks with him during May and June, and the Lord, in a most wonderful way, favoured and blessed them together. The time was chiefly spent in reading and prayer, and they had most blessed communications from God in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Mr. Pym often said he had deeper sights of God than language could describe. Sometimes he would exclaim twenty times together, “Blessed, blessed, blessed be his holy name!” At times they were so filled with the glory of God, that their bodies were crushed as it were by it; and repeatedly has Mr. Pym cried out, “Lord, my poor body will not contain it!” and many, many times would he exclaim, “O! It is wonderful, wonderful, that thou shouldst save me, such a vile sinner as I!” The Holy Ghost revealed God in Christ, and faith being in lively exercise, their souls were filled to over-flowing; and tears of love and joy were abundantly shed. If any of the servants entered the room, Mr. Pym could not help saying to them, “God has been blessing our poor souls;” and he often longed for other friends to share it also, and would say, “O tell them, tell them of the Lord’s goodness!”

The latter end of July, the same friend again visited Mr. Pym, staying with him about a fortnight. He found the body much weaker, but the soul more than ever rejoicing in God. Sometimes he would talk about the Lord and his goodness to his soul, until he was so overcome that he was attacked with one of the seizures with which he was afflicted, and on this account many Christian friends were not permitted to see him. He gradually declined in bodily strength until August 10th, when he had an apoplectic fit. He was then quite unconscious for a day or two; but on Thursday and Friday rallied again. He enjoyed the same blessed intercourse with God to the last. He was delighted if any fresh symptom appeared to betoken the approach of death, and would say to his man servant with evident pleasure, “I think I cannot last long.”

On Friday, August 15th, he said to one who was sitting by him, “It will soon be over now. It is all passing away. I am dying very happy, just as I wished to die. I am in union with Christ.” To another he said, “I die unto sin daily, but Jesus lives in me. It is all Jesus, nothing but Jesus. When Jesus appears, it will be all Jesus in heaven! I am dying!”

These were the last words he spoke. He gradually sank until 20 minutes after 3 o’clock on Sabbath morning, August 17th, 1862, when he drew his last breath on earth, and entered upon an eternal Sabbath, and upon the full enjoyment of those satisfying pleasures which are to endure for ever, and for which he had so long and ardently panted.

He was interred under the communion table of Elmley Church, on Saturday, August 23rd, there to wait the resurrection of the body, and the entire fruition of all the purposes of God’s everlasting love to his chosen ones.

The Bible which he was in the habit of using, and which is abundantly underlined and marked, was found to contain the following lines, written by his own hand: “This Bible to be given, after my decease, to J. N., of ———. Nov. 5th, 1861. Robert Pym. He most kindly visited me on the 3rd day of Nov., 1861, a Sabbath, when I was the subject of much soul darkness, spiritual trial, and trouble. After he was gone, his conversation was much blessed to the comfort of my soul, (Isa. 50:10; John 5:39,) and his visits since have been the same. I would give the Lord all the praise, thanking, blessing, and praising his holy name. May he exercise, strengthen, uphold, confirm, and establish my faith more and more, as he sees good to try it, and fulfil in me his own eternal praise and glory.”

The following letter was written, in pencil, to the same friend, on his sick bed, when from bodily weakness he could scarcely hold a pen:

“The Son of God, God the Son, one and the same Lord God Almighty with the Father and the Holy Ghost, is, as John styles him in his second epistle, ‘The Son of the Father.’ He is not Son of God through his human nature being begotten of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary, which it was; no; but as Son of God from all eternity, and that of the Father. He took the human nature into personal union with himself as God, the one only true God in the person of the Son, as distinct from the Father and the Holy Ghost from all eternity. This has been shown to me most beautifully, as lying meditating on him and the truth in him, and the word’s revelation of him, in my bed this morning; when I was shown somewhat of his glory, as the glory of the only-be- gotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. In other words, he was shown to me to be the Son of God, as a distinct Person in the Godhead, the co-equal, co-eternal Son of the Father, one, and the game Lord God Almighty with the Father in the glorious self-existing essence of the Godhead from all eternity. See John 1:14. Such beholdings are ascribed (verses 13, 14) to the work of God’s grace in the souls of his people. See 1 John 5:7,8.

“The right Scriptural acknowledgment of the Son, as Son of the Father, is to be ascribed upon earth to the witness of the three, the Spirit, the water, (which is the grace of the Father in the Son, of which the Son was full,) and the blood; which agree in one in their witness with the record borne in heaven by the Three, Father, Word, and Holy Ghost, which Three are One. Then verses 9 to 15 clearly and beautifully set forth, how salvation is through faith. So in Heb. 1:1, is it set forth. In these gospel days, God has spoken by this, his only begotten, Son. So in verse 3 he is declared to be the brightness of God’s glory, the express image of his person, which plainly reveals and declares him to be the Son of the Father. The great and glorious things which in the word of God are set forth as immutably fixed in the eternal counsels of Jehovah, (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,) upon this foundation of the divine Personality of the Son in the Godhead, as the Son of the Father, will not allow of my departing from the great and glorious truths of the word, wherein Jesus is, and has been shown to me the co-equal, and co-eternal Son of the Father.

“My mind is now too weak to permit of my writing any more at present, whilst the warning I have had from God that I may be out of the world at any moment, makes me desirous of keeping the eye of my mind fixed on Jesus as the co-equal, and co-eternal Son of the Father, glorified in his incarnate state.”

[Having occasionally, in times past, seen some of Mr. Pym’s letters, and sermons contained in them, we have felt and said that he was one of the few ministers of truth in the Church of England who seemed to know both sides of the question, and to have some living experience of the things that he preached, both of faith and the trial of faith. He was not mixed up with the bishop and clergy, and all the tag-rag of the system, choristers and chanting and what not; but was a separate man, well exercised in his own soul, much despised and hated in his own neighbourhood as “mad Pym,” and preached to a gathering of peculiar people, who came many miles across the moors to hear him plain, simple folk who loved an experimental gospel. His heart, as we have seen in one of his letters, was with such men as Warburton and M’Kenzie; and if he continued in the system it was not because he approved of or loved it, but because he could not clearly see his way out of it. Mainly for these reasons we have inserted the above Obituary. ED.]