Sivut kuvina
PDF
ePub

66

respect for his unwearied and compassion“ate attention in a variety of instances to "the unfortunate, who have suffered ship"wreck upon the coast near Formby, both with regard to their persons and property."

66

At one crisis (as many of you bear in mind) there was a general expectation that our peaceful shores would be invaded by the numerous hosts of a foe elated with victory. With patriotic ardour he called upon you to arm yourselves in your country's cause, and manfully to stand forth in its defence. He possessed no talent which he did not willingly bring into exercise to promote the good of mankind at large, or individual advantage. Upon each of two occasions of state emergency he sent forth into the world a Pamphlet, the first entitled "A Serious and

66

Affectionate Address to the Inhabitants "of Lancashire," and a second, "The

66

Lenitive." He advocated the cause of the

"Marine Society" in Liverpool, in a Discourse, which was printed for the benefit of that admirable Institution. The Sermon which he preached on the day of Thanksgiving for the recovery from sickness of His Majesty George the Third, in 1789, (in the conclusion of which he pleaded for the pitiable class of the debtors confined in gaol, with a view to second a proposed subscription for their liberation,) and also one, which he delivered in St. Peter's Church, in Liverpool, at the second visitation of the Bishop of Chester, in 1794, were, in compliance with the request of his friends, committed to the press. In the establishment of the Institution for the Blind, in Liverpool, he was one of the individuals who first came forward to promote the undertaking. He proposed and befriended the formation of the Ladies' Charity in that town. To the furtherance and

regulation of charitable institutions generally,

much of his time has been devoted.

In

As a Magistrate for this county he used, during the earlier part of his life in particular, strenuous exertions in the discharge of the functions of that office; and, as you were wont to acknowledge, in his decisions he ever leaned to the side of mercy. the Court of Justice, when upon him devolved the duty of passing on the guilty the sentence of the law, he addressed the audience in language the most impressive; portraying vice in its dread deformity, and warning the uncontaminated to shun evil courses. His more private reprehensions of the depraved were given with an equal degree of force, for his virtue-loving heart presented to him hardened profligacy and iniquity in their glaring colouring. But the abashed offender ever felt that his censure was mingled with compassion. The adoption of means for the prevention of crime, and for the encouragement of virtue, gave to his mind its strongest impulse.

In the more private sphere of action, in the friendly or domestic circle, his engaging and highly polished manners, his urbanity, the cheerfulness and kindness of his disposition, the natural strength of his understanding, his talents so peculiarly conspicuous in conversation, his sallies of wit (free from satire) caused him to have few equals amongst the most accomplished characters. But in the bosom of his family, where his holy love shone brightest, the pen fails, the inmost feelings of the heart can alone give evidence to its intensity! He ardently cherished the hallowed hope of spiritual re-union with those most loved on earth in that blessed state, where death will sting no more!

He ever rejoiced that the clerical profession had been his choice, and in the House of God those energies, with which the Almighty had largely endowed him, were most manifest. Through the medium of tender recol

lection view him within its sacred walls, not only in his character as a minister of the gospel of Christ, but as a worshipper of the Deity. The words, which he once delivered to you from the pulpit, shall be repeated. 66 Amongst innumerable blessings in a "life of three score years and ten of him "who now addresses you, the most highly "valued is the distinguished favour of being "born of Christian Parents, a member of the "Established Religion, and, consequently, "instructed to believe in, and to defend, its "fundamental doctrine, that Jesus Christ "is One with God the Father.' Of the

[ocr errors]

"consolation, nay, the triumphant exulta"tion hence derived, many of you, indi

66

vidually, feel the efficacy and the force, "when, on each revolving Sabbath, on "bended knee, you exclaim, with fervent

66

[ocr errors]

piety, O God! the Son, Redeemer of

the world, have mercy upon us, mise

"the

"rable sinners!"

« EdellinenJatka »