The Life And Ministry Of Jonas Eathorn

Gospel Standard 1865:

A Brief Account Of Jonas Eathorn

By The Late Henry Fowler

This man was the paralytic concerning whom Dr. Hawker has given an interesting account in his “Zion’s Pilgrim.” I wrote an outline of the paralytic’s life from his own mouth, at the request of Dr. Hawker, but it was never printed. I shall devote a few pages for the purpose here, as I judge many of my readers will read the history of my worthy brother, Jonas Eathorn, with much pleasure.

Jonas Eathorn was by trade a barber and hairdresser. He attended close to his business, and when he went from home to attend upon gentlemen, he used generally to be seen in a full trot; but such a lover was he of white ale, (a beverage I never saw but at Plymouth,) that he seldom passed a public-house without hastily taking half a pint. This he continued in the practice of for many years; and as the day closed he was generally in a state of intoxication. He resided very near a meeting-house, called the Old Tabernacle, in Plymouth, but was not in the habit of attending any place of worship. He followed his hairdressing up to a late hour on a Sunday, and then finished the day a beastly drunkard.

In a state of intoxication one Lord’s day evening he entered the aforesaid meeting-house, and with some difficulty he got into the gallery facing the minister. Just as he was settled, the minister, Mr. Shepherd, of Bath, gave out for his text these words: “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Cor. 6:9, 10.) The preacher, in a strong and solemn tone, immediately added, “And thou, drunkard, art the man!” The words had such an effect on Jonas that in one minute he was quite sober, but in the greatest terror of mind imaginable. He left the meeting-house with a dismal hell before his eyes, groaning and weeping. When he got home, he exclaimed to his wife, “I am a lost man! I shall certainly be damned, as sure as there is a God in heaven!” His wife was quite alarmed. “What!” she said, “am I to be plagued again with another Methodist?” Her first husband, I would observe, was a godly man, and she was opposed to everything that had the appearance of religion. When her husband died, she was determined, if she altered her condition again, to marry a man that was no Methodist. She, therefore, was quite content to be married to Jonas, the proverbial tippler in the town, that she might not be plagued with religion. This I had from her own mouth.

Now began Jonas’s trials. He could no longer continue carrying on his business on a Lord’s day; consequently, he lost the best part of his income, which drove him to great straits; and this increased the rage and malice of his wife against him and his religion. But he bore with great patience all her cavils and contentions, and used often to say, “Who maketh me to differ?” Jonas now became a steady follower of the Lamb, and a regular attendant with the people of God in the place where he called him by the preached word. I think he was not brought to taste the sweets of redeeming love for nearly three years after the Lord first convicted him, but was striving and labouring under the yoke of Moses, as most poor convinced sinners do, some for a greater length of time than others. As he was so tried without, the Lord abundantly blessed him in his own soul. He was often destitute of a penny to buy food for his family.

One day when he came home, his wife said to him, with an angry tone, “We have neither bread, butter, nor tea in the house, nor any money to get them. You see what your religion has brought you to.” Jonas said to her, “Put on the kettle; we shall have something by and by.” “What use is it to boil the water?” she said; “I cannot see where anything is to come from.” Jonas retired, and for some time poured out his soul to God in prayer; and he begged of God to appear for him as a God of providence, that his poverty might not open the mouths of the ungodly to reproach his cause. Jonas told me that before he left praying he was quite satisfied by the freedom he had in prayer, and by the sweet promises the Lord gave him, that supplies were on the road. He came down stairs in that strong confidence, and had not been down many minutes before a knock was heard at the door. Jonas went to answer the door, and saw a young woman, who said, “I was directed to deliver the contents of this basket to Mr. Eathorn.” “Who sent it?” said Jonas. “I am not to tell you who sent it,” said the woman. Jonas delivered the contents of the basket to his wife.

“Here, Mary,” said Jonas, “did I not tell you we should have supplies? Here is bread, butter, tea, and meat. God is a God that does hear and answer the cries of his children, and he has now confirmed his faithful promise to me, as he has often done.” His wife was struck with silent surprise; and this and many other like striking providences stopped her from persecuting Jonas, as she has told me.

I forget how many years Jonas was with the people at the Old Tabernacle; but I imagine it could not be but a few years before he was seized with a paralytic stroke. This affliction of his puzzled all the medical men in the town; for it only extended to the lower half of his body; so that he quite lost the use of his legs and thighs. In this state of affliction the Lord continually made his goodness to pass before him both in spirituals and temporals. He was confined on the bed of affliction up to the close of his life; a period of near twenty-seven years! But I cannot dismiss the reader without giving him some further account of my worthy brother Jonas.

Soon after Jonas was taken ill, some one requested Dr. Hawker to visit him, which he did. But at that time Dr. Hawker was little better than an Arminian, as Jonas found by his conversation. On this occasion, Jonas stated very freely to Dr. Hawker his views, as respects the justification of a sinner before God; and he told the Doctor how the Lord had dealt with him, with which account the Doctor was rather struck. Before Dr. Hawker left Jonas, he asked him if he was willing to receive the sacrament. Jonas said he was quite willing. “Then,” said the Doctor, “when shall you be prepared to receive the sacrament?” “Prepared, Sir,” said Jonas, “I hope, Sir, you know the meaning of Solomon’s words, ‘The preparation of the heart in man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.’ I am quite ready, Sir. I am a poor, needy sinner, saved by grace.” Many other observations Jonas made, which I believe Dr. Hawker never forgot.

From this time, the Doctor used frequently to visit Jonas, as well as many others of the Doctor’s acquaintances. There was also a prayer-meeting established in Jonas’s room, where twenty or thirty godly persons met two or three times a week, and the Doctor used to meet with them at times; and for many years he used to break bread once a month to Jonas and the brethren, and truly it sometimes was to me the house of God, and the very gate of heaven! Jonas generally gave out the hymns, and very appropriate they were to the occasion. By the help of a rope fastened at the foot of the bedstead, Jonas used to sit up in the bed and read the hymns, while his countenance bespoke the inward joy of his heart.

When first I became acquainted with Jonas, I used to write his letters to his numerous friends; but at length it struck me that I would try to bring him, by degrees, into the practice of writing. When I proposed it to him, he seemed terrified at the thought. “O, no!” said he; “I have not had a pen in my hand for some years, and I cannot think of attempting to write again.” At length I prevailed on him to try. I guided his hand as I would a child’s, and when he found that his letters were well formed he was greatly pleased; and after a few lessons be could write a bold hand. My chief object was, that he might be fully employed, and much gratified by correspondence with his Christian friends, both for their edification as well as his own; and indeed his letters were full of Christ, if I may so speak. Jonas also collected from various authors about five hundred hymns which he left in manuscript, but were never printed. This new employ of his used to beguile many of his solitary hours. Jonas was generally lively in conversation; for his mind displayed all the vivacity of youth, but free from levity. I have indeed sometimes found him very much cast down by a sense of indwelling sin, and by darkness of soul. But when I began to tell him of the wretched state of my mind, he would lose sight of himself and his troubles, and begin to preach to me of the stability of the promises, amidst all our darkness, deadness, guilt, and sin; of our complete justification in and by the imputed righteousness of Christ, until his gloom has been changed into a smile, which indicated the peace of God in his heart, which passeth all understanding. Many times has my soul been refreshed by the spiritual conversation of my brother Jonas. He had something to say about his dear Lord and Master to every one that visited him. His whole delight seemed to be to speak of divine and spiritual things. Many of the Lord’s dear children, as well as myself, have left his room under a sweet sense of the precious love of Jesus Christ, the friend of sinners!

About 1807, Jonas was deprived of his wife by death, which greatly shook him. He had now lost his tender nurse, and partner of his joys and sorrows. I have reason to hope she died in the Lord, though her mind was much beclouded the most of her days, as many of the Lord’s family are. I have often heard her complain of her sin-polluted soul, and of her many fears and unbelief. Soon after her death, Jonas was removed to his only daughter’s house, which in a great measure destroyed his pleasure in having frequent meetings with the children of God; this he found the loss of much. But he was often visited by the best Friend, and I have often seen him, in his new station, longing to depart and be with Christ.

I would observe that when Jonas was removed from his old habitation, the men that took him in the sedan chair asked him, if he would have the covering removed, that he might once more see the sun, which was then shining in all his brilliance. Jonas replied, “O, no! Keep the top covered and the curtains drawn. I never wish to see the material sun shine again. I long to see the Sun of Righteousness! That is the sun I long to see!” But, lest by accident the curtain should admit the rays of the sun, Jonas told me he closed his eyes, until he was safely lodged in his daughter’s house, which was adjoining the street where he had resided many years.

Jonas survived his wife about three years. Dr. Hawker had a particular desire to be with him in his last moments. Jonas had lain for many days before his death in a kind of torpor, taking little or no food, nor speaking to any one. At length the summons, long expected and often wished for, came. His attendants round the bed perceived a visible alteration in his countenance, and watched with anxiety his parting breath. He had not moved in bed for some days; but now, without any human assistance, Jonas arose in the bed, and, with a heavenly smile, waved his hands and exclaimed with holy rapture, “The victory is won! The victory is won!” and, without a struggle, fell asleep in Jesus. Thus Jonas realised the truth of his favourite promise, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.”

When the friends perceived a change in Jonas, they sent for Dr. Hawker, but he was engaged at church, and was a few minutes too late Jonas was gone; and the Doctor, on entering the room, fell on his knees, with the friends present, and poured out before God thanksgiving and praise for his faithfulness, mercy, and love to Jonas. He was interred in the churchyard of Charles, Plymouth. Dr. Hawker, after reading the usual service in the church, delivered a short, but sweet discourse from the desk, on the occasion; and towards the close he made this remark respecting Jonas: “Though I never preached to him, he has preached many sweet sermons to me.” I gave out over his grave, that fine funeral hymn, chosen by himself,

“Why Do We Mourn Departing Friends?”

and the Doctor joined with his noble bass voice.