CITY-ROAD MAGAZINE.

MAY, 1873.

MEMORIAL SKETCH OF THE LATE REV. THOMAS JACKSON.

FIRST PAPER.

THE REV. THOMAS JACKSON was the eldest of three brothers who for many years were contemporaries in the Wesleyan-Methodist ministry. Their parents resided at Sancton, a village in the East Riding of Yorkshire, where all three were born,-Thomas, in December, 1783. Thomas began "to travel" in 1804, his brother Samuel in 1806, their brother Robert in 1823. The sons of poor and worthy parents, living in a village, they had not many educational advantages, and were brought up to handicrafts. When, however, they experienced the New Birth, their intellectual faculties received an impulse which enabled them to supply by subsequent diligence the deficiencies of earlier training. In the case of Samuel Jackson, the process was principally aided by native mental power; but though his range of reading was circumscribed, he digested well his acquired information, and became famous among the elderly and the judicious for the soundness and depth of his experimental preaching. His zeal for the religious instruction of the young, in which his junior brother especially has largely participated, was probably fed by the recollections of their own childhood. He deserves to be had in lasting remembrance for his wise and persistent efforts to vindicate the claims of children received by baptism into the Church of Christ, to the systematic attention of its officers.

But though Mr. Samuel Jackson ran a useful and distinguished career, that of his brother Thomas has been marked by usefulness on a wider scale and eminence of a higher grade. When, indeed, the length of his course is added to its laboriousness and its success, his career is seen to be one of which the history of Methodism scarcely affords a parallel.

Mr. Thomas Jackson joined the Society while in his teens. Preceding his brother by but two years in the itinerancy, he reached the President's chair nine years before him, having then been fourteen years the Connexional Editor. That high trust he held for nineteen years, a longer period than any predecessor or successor, and then relinquished it only to assume a post of as high trust and as heavy responsibility, as first Theological Tutor in the Institution at Richmond. Here he continued till 1861, a period of eighteen years, when, at his own request, he was liberated by the Conference from regular labours. This long discharge of official duties, at once so arduous and so honourable, is without parallel in the records of the Connexion.

The probationary years of Mr. Jackson were passed in Lincolnshire. He was brought forward as a candidate for the ministry by the Rev. Joseph Sutcliffe, M.A., Superintendent of the York Circuit. A passage in one of his works shows the high esteem in which he learned to hold that mild and simple-hearted Christian, yet shrewd judge and accomplished scholar, who VOL. III. FIRST SERIES.

in his turn was the very man to discern, foster, and encourage the opening powers and the diligent efforts of a pious youth struggling against circumstantial difficulties. When their association as patron and client is thus recognized, none who knew them both will fail to call to mind points of resemblance-especially in amiability of character and gentleness of manners-between the two. Mr. Jackson's first Circuit was Spilsby, under the superintendence of Mr. Samuel Botts, who enjoyed the friendship of Dr. Adam Clarke. In his first year he himself acquired the friendship of Robert Carr Brackenbury, Esq., then residing upon his own estate at Raithby. From this modest, unostentatious, and humble gentleman,* he would learn, among many other interesting things, the views entertained by him of Alexander Kilham, formerly his servant, and who owed so much to his patronage. During his first year at Horncastle he had for his Superintendent and sole colleague the Rev. Thomas Gee, a man of plain understanding but of sterling worth; and, during his second year, the Rev. Samuel Kittle, only four years his senior, a man of superior intellect and piety.

His first Circuit, after being received into full connexion, was Leeds, then in the height of its Methodistic prosperity and fame. His Superintendent was the Rev. Joseph Taylor, his other colleagues being the Rev. Messrs. Reynolds, senior, Sutcliffe, and Thomas Stanley. The first was one of the best experimental preachers in the Connexion; the second, a good and faithful exponent of Christian ethics in their practical applications; the third, a divine of the school of St. John; and the fourth, a master of the familiarly illustrative style. In his second year at the northern metropolis of Methodism, the Rev. Charles Atmore was his Superintendent, with the Revs. Miles Martindale and J. S. Pipe for his new colleagues, the first, a gentlemanlike personage, with the strongest Wesleyan prepossessions; the second, one who united in a high degree mental and moral excellences; and the third, an exceedingly devout and godly man.

In Leeds he found the lady whom, in one of his prefaces, he describes as "his best earthly friend, the wife of his youth, the mother of his children, and his ever-faithful companion and adviser for nearly forty-five years."

The late Mrs. Thomas Jackson was a woman of cheerful temper and pleasant manners, who never attempted to restrain the studious habits of her husband. The front room on the first floor in Winkworth Buildings, lined on all sides with choice books, was a veritable sanctuary. During the years of his seclusion from regular labour, he was domiciled with his daughter, Mrs. Marzials, who had the satisfaction of waiting upon him to the last.

His happy marriage excepted, no circumstance connected with the two

*This excellent man in his last days willed that nothing should be said of him after his death either in sermon or in print, a request with the spirit of which Montgomery complied in writing the following stanza for the memorial tablet erected by the widow.

Adam Clarke afterwards published an interesting volume entitled "Raithby Hall."

years that Mr. Jackson spent in Leeds was of greater advantage to him than the friendship matured with the truly learned James Nichols, then a printer there. They were men of kindred minds, and addicted to similar pursuits. In the Leeds Grammar School,* however, Mr. Nichols had received an excellent education, which he afterwards improved by private reading when living as tutor in a gentleman's family. The acquisition of such a friend, it cannot be doubted, strongly tended to repair the defects of Mr. Jackson's school training. In Mr. Jackson's many books he made no show of classical knowledge, yet a discerning eye may find proof that he was by no means unacquainted with either Latin or Greek. The English reading of the two friends was very much in the same direction. That of the translator of Arminius was historical and ecclesiastical as well as theological, and embraced the learning of many countries as well as of several centuries; while that of the biographer of John Goodwin, though by no means confined to one age or to a single country, was pre-eminently conversant with the writings of English authors, especially from the Reformation to the Revolution. Mr. Jackson, without disparaging the real merits of the Nonconformist fathers, imbibed a decided taste for the style and sentiments of the orthodox school of the Established Church. Whatever the differences between the two students, Mr. Jackson and Mr. Nichols, may have been, it is certain that their minds reacted one upon the other with a reciprocity of benefits which continued till the death of Mr. Nichols. In 1821 Mr. Jackson was appointed to the London East Circuit. His Leeds friend had preceded him to the Metropolis as editor, printer, and publisher of the Christian Reporter newspaper; and they continued in habits of frequent intercourse for

many years.

The intermediate time was employed by Mr. Jackson in Preston, SowerbyBridge, Wakefield, Sheffield, and Manchester. In his second year at Preston, he was joined by his brother Samuel, and was his Superintendent. At Sowerby-Bridge, then made a Circuit, Mr. Thomas Jackson was its first Superintendent for two years. This honourable appointment, concurrent as it was with Mr. Bunting's residence at Halifax, indicates, perhaps, the beginning of that close and confidential friendship between them which continued and grew till they were parted by death. The two years that Mr. Jackson spent at Wakefield, in like manner, ripened into intimacy his previous acquaintance with Robert Newton, who was his Superintendent and only colleague. At Sheffield he was, the first year, junior colleague to the Rev. Messrs. Kelk (Superintendent), J. Brownell, and J. Davis. Mr. Kelk, the boy preacher, was of the same stamp as Mr. Atmore, clerical, diligent, and ultimately venerable; and Mr. Brownell, a returned missionary of deep and fixed piety. In the second year the fourth preacher was the Rev. Robert Wood. Åt Sheffield Mr. Jackson made, no doubt, the acquaintance of Montgomery, who had then for some years been an occasional worshipper at the Methodist Chapel, though the poet seems to have formed a more lasting friendship with Mr. Wood, whose daughter contributed a number of letters, addressed to her father by him, to the voluminous yet interesting Memoirs of his Life.

* The Leeds Grammar School was about this time in high fame as having produced a Senior Wrangler of enduring reputation. Sometimes a man who has achieved this great distinction relapses into obscurity, making nothing of it. It was not so with Isaac Milner. He and his elder brother, Joseph, were the sons of poor parents at Leeds.

From Sheffield, Mr. Jackson proceeded to Manchester, at that time (1818) but one Circuit. There (his first three years' appointment) he had for Superintendent all the time the Rev. John Stephens, his other colleagues being the Rev. Messrs. S. Bardsley, Pipe, and M'Kitrick, the first year; his brother Samuel and Maximilian Wilson, the second and third year; and Robert Newton in the last twelvemonth. Messrs. M'Kitrick and Wilson were both worthy men, of very fair abilities. Mr. Bardsley was an eminently holy and wonderfully amiable man, simple as a child, fond as a woman, and pure as a saint. Mr. Stephens was one of the great men of the Connexion. It was while he, Mr. Newton, and Mr. Jackson were at Manchester, that the political effervescence which led to the lamentable tragedy of "Peterloo," was agitating the masses of Lancashire in their very depth; and the strongly Conservative Superintendent gained the applause of his brethren in Conference by the loyal manner in which he conducted himself in those trying circumstances. The events of that time and district confirmed susceptible minds in their dread of popular passions.

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In 1821, Mr. Jackson came to the Metropolis with a well-established reputation. During his three years' station in London East, he had for his Superintendent, in the first two, the Rev. Walter Griffith, and in the third the Rev. Henry Moore. The Rev. George Morley, also, was his colleague throughout, the Rev. Messrs. Burdsall and Grindrod two years, and the Rev. W. Martin one. All these names are too prominently historical to call for any characterization, except to say that the Rev. William Martin, who died two years after, would probably have risen to nearly equal eminence with the others, had it pleased God to prolong his life. As Mr. Jackson passed from one Circuit to another, his ministry became more and more acceptable, stirring, and instructive. His earliest appearances City-Road Chapel are remembered for the faithfulness of his preaching and for the fervour of his prayers. As years advanced, his sermons reached and maintained a high standard of excellence, the obvious result of constant study, vast preparation, and long practice, with devout habits; all conferring both an easy mastery and a powerful address. But to the ardency of his intercessory appeals there seemed no limit. More and more he had power with God and prevailed. In the mellowness of long experience and the simplicity of great age, his approaches to the Throne of Grace continued to manifest an undiminished depth of feeling with a growing confidence of faith.

Mr. Myles, in his "Chronological History," divides the Methodist preachers into three races, the third beginning at the year 1791, and terminating with 1802. On this reckoning, Mr. Jackson belongs to the fourth race, and is, in that, facile princeps. It may be assumed that he was brought from Manchester to London, preparatory to being appointed Editor. The labour had soon become burdensome to his great predecessor, who could plead with an Apostle, "That which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.' From the end of his probation, if not before, Mr. Jackson had attracted the notice of Mr. Bunting,* who was at Sheffield when he was at

*Speculating upon his more advanced education under the wing of Dr. Percival, and his juvenile experiments in composition, it might have been prophesied that Jabez Bunting would addict himself to the pen and become an author. His mind, however, soon took another direction; and having acquired the perfect command of his thoughts and of his tongue, he appeared to persuade himself that this would be the instrument of

Leeds, at Halifax when he was at Sowerby-Bridge, and at Leeds when he was at Wakefield. These close proximities made that discerning leader more fully aware of the talents and proficiency of his junior brother.

Among his intimate friends it was well known, that, before coming south, he had been practising his pen as well as furnishing his mind. Indeed, almost the first thing that he did after entering London was to place in the hands of his friend Nichols the manuscript of his "Life of Goodwin." It might be hazardous to say how many times the work had been transcribed; but that from which it was printed was neither the first nor the second draft, and fairer "copy" never, perhaps, delighted the eye of a compositor. The lasting impression of nearly fifty years is, that it was difficult to decide the palm in point of style between the clear and compact fluency of the biographer and the rhythmical finish of the style of his hero, as a prose writer contemporary with Milton. A re-perusal of the book, after so long an interval, re-affirms the verdict of youthful recollection.

as great good as he could hope to do in the Wesleyan-Methodist ministry. Not only his speaking style, but his occasional drafts of reports, minutes, and resolutions, showed that had he employed the press, his success in books would have been as great as it was in sermons, speeches, and deliberative discussion. But, though several inducements and opportunities presented themselves, Divine Providence seems always to have prevented him from being drawn aside from the path in which he walked through life. He once told Mr. James Nichols that he could never satisfy himself with a new sermon unless a month at least had been bestowed upon it. Now, for all business purposes, he could speak without compositional preparation, and yet with perfect efficiency. Had he, therefore, devoted himself to the continuous production of original discourses, much more had he listened to the seductive overtures of publishers, he could not have run the remarkable career which placed him almost on a level with Mr. Wesley himself as the administrative guide and legislative leader of the Connexion. Others acquired confidence in him long before he acquired it in himself. In 1803 he writes to the Rev. George Marsden, "If I had your talents and popularity." Yet, the day before Christmas, he writes that "all next week his places were to be supplied, that he [a young man of twenty-four] might he at liberty to attend to the affairs of the Missions and of the Book Committee." In the summer of the next year he was voted into the chair at a mixed meeting of ministers of different denominations, and on his way home stepped into the Court of King's Bench at Guildhall to observe "the sparrings of Garrow and Erskine." The meeting referred to related to the starting of the Eclectic Review, and he was put upon the Committee of Preparation; but it does not appear that he contributed a single article, except a letter of remonstrance to the Editors on their breach, in the first number, of the truce between Calvinism and Arminianism. He seems, however, to have assisted Mr. Benson with "long transcriptions from Magee and other services." It had also impressed him as one great defect of modern Methodism" that "it made very little use of the press, that powerful engine, for promoting its tenets or advancing its interests, one out of many evils resulting from an uneducated ministry." In 1805, he published his first work, a Sermon preached before the Sunday-School Union. In the year 1806 a futile attempt was made by Mr. Edwards, a London publisher, to engage him, together with Mr. T. Hartwell Horne, then a local preacher, in the preparation of a kind of commentary on the Scriptures. In 1810, Mr. Griffith urged Mr. Bunting to take up a note appended to a recent publication by Dr. Magee, afterwards Archbishop of Dublin, and father of the present Bishop of Peterborough. He replied, "My aversion to authorship increases. Besides, I think such an assailant as Dr. Magee should have been met by one of our first men in point of reputation; e.g., Mr. Benson, Mr. Moore or Dr. Clarke." The obnoxious note was attached to the very work from which Mr. Bunting had made extracts for insertion in the Magazine. In the text were set forth with much learning the Bible doctrines of atonement and sacrifice; in the note, Mr. Wesley and his followers were violently and even falsely attacked. Mr. Wesley was coupled with Dr. Priestley as equally with him denying the universal depravity of man. He was charged also with indifference to the opinions entertained by his followers, so long as they "added to the numbers of a sect."