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The Life And Ministry Of J. T. Smith
I well knew and truly sympathised with the deceased in his trials and afflictions. A few words, perhaps, as to my first acquaintance and connection with him may not be uninteresting. In 1858, I received a letter from him, he being a perfect stranger to me, mentioning his exercises about remaining in the Church of England. He was then vicar of Winterton, near Brigg, Lincolnshire, worth, perhaps, from £200 to £250 a year. I liked the general tone of sincerity which breathed through his letter, and invited him to come and spend a few days with me at Stamford, as I knew that conversation was a far better medium of communication than correspondence. He accordingly came, and, as I expected, I found him remarkably sincere…
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The Life And Testimony Of Ann Roff
She was one who was separated, with her husband, from the General Baptist connexion, about 1829; but though separated at that time, with him and others, she was bitter against the truths her husband loved and preached, for which he was separated, and continued a great persecutor of him for some time. He told me a little of what he suffered from her; but the Lord was pleased, in his own time, to slay the enmity of her heart, and bring her down at his feet, a poor, broken-hearted sinner, crying for mercy, her sins, of a dreadful nature, standing before her in many forms, as she told me, and the law condemning her for what she had done both before making a profession and…
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The Life And Ministry Of Robert Roff
My deceased friend was called by grace about the year 1823. While under great exercise of soul, as he walked with me he used to sigh and groan, not knowing what to do; and sometimes along-side a wall near the road which led to my home he would pour out his soul in prayer to God. When parting he would say, "Do pray for me;" and I being in the same state of feeling, would reply, "And you pray for me." When we went on the Lord's day to the Baptist chapel, his looks in some measure spoke out the inward feelings of his soul, as if weighed down with grief and sorrow. Sometimes when I have met him, his first looks seemed as if…
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The Life And Ministry Of Jonas Eathorn
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…
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The Life And Testimony Of Thomas Jones
I complete my fourscore and three this day. A considerable excess on the years commonly allotted to Adam's children. Moses reckoned the "days of our years as threescore years and ten; and if, by reason of strength, they he fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow" (Psalm 90:10). No doubt this, in the general, describes a protracted life in its decadent stage, "when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men bow themselves" (Ecc. 12:3); but I am bound to say these conditions are mercifully mitigated in my own case thus far, so that, though daily reminded by unmistakable symptoms that I am an old man, I enjoy a fair degree of bodily health, and my principal sorrow is such as…
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The Life And Ministry Of Thomas Jones
Instead of this month continuing (as intended) my notice of more of the godly ministers of past days, I will tell a little of our very old friend, who has just closed a ministry of upwards of sixty years honourably, steadfast in the faith to the end, and extensively useful. Mr. Thomas Jones, of Broseley, Shropshire, who was called home on July 4th, in the eighty-ninth year of his sage. Born in a humble cottage at Bridgenorth, March 4th, 1795, and his mother dying in his early childhood, he was cared for by her mother, but had no early advantages of education; and after the custom of those days, and that mining, quarrying, and clay-working district, had to be inured to early toil. When some…