THE BAPTIST MAGAZINE. MAY, 1847. MEMOIR OF THE LATE REV. JAMES HARGREAVES. BY THE REV. PHILIP J. SAFFERY. Continued from page 201. His temporal His school prospered. DURING the residence of Mr. Har- ing of God rested on all his efforts. greaves at Ogden, he was compelled to add to his scanty income from the church, which never in any year reached £40, by keeping a school. His early disadvantages which would have dis-gious societies. qualified a less conscientious man, were Mr. Hargreaves did not receive from compensated by his laborious and self- his people in Ogden that general and denying application to study. He cordial co-operation which is so essential thirsted for knowledge, and searched to permanent ministerial success. A for it as for hidden treasure. The mid- lethargy prevailed in the hearts of night hours were consumed in its pur- many, and in a few there was a spirit suit, and he was never unequal to the of ungenerous envy on account of his trust he had undertaken to fulfil. It success in his school. The additions to may be mentioned as a proof of his the church were neither so large nor so conscientiousness that the parents of frequent as he desired, and even hoped the children placed under his care for. He became anxious and unsettled, were always told that he considered and this state of feeling was increased the claims of the ministry to be by invitations which he received from supreme, and that should the duties Bradford and Rawden in Yorkshire, of the school-room ever clash with the Pendle Hill in Lancashire, and Poole in former, the latter must always give Dorsetshire. Ultimately these invitaplace to the higher obligations under tions, though extremely flattering, were which he was laid. By a wise economy declined, chiefly from a fear of offending and arrangement of his time, this colli- God by leaving Ogden. In the close of sion was of rare occurrence. The bless- the year 1307, the church at Ogden VOL. X.-FOURTH SERIES. 2N again revived. The congregation in- | embittered this portion of his life, it creased. Mr. Hargreaves felt greater will be enough to state that his efforts freedom in preaching and increased earnestness in his work. Many were awakened, and some were baptized; but at this crisis an event occurred which was to him pregnant with perplexity and sorrow. The Rev. Mr. Lyons, the pastor of the baptist church in George Street, Hull, became a unitarian, and resigned his charge. Mr. Hargreaves was invited to become his successor. Uncertain what was the path of duty in this case, his tears were his meat day and night. Hundreds of times with weeping eyes did he exclaim, "O that the Lord would guide my feet And plain before my face!" At length, in concurrence with the opinion of the Rev. Andrew Fuller, who visited Hull while Mr. Hargraves was supplying the pulpit in George Street, and with the urgent advice of the Rev. Dr. Steadman and the Rev. Mr. Littlewood, he accepted the invitation. On the 13th of November, 1808, on the completion of the fortieth year of his age, he preached his farewell sermon at Ogden. For some time the prospects of Mr. Hargreaves at Hull were very encouraging. The congregation was greatly increased, and like the apostle, he was "in labours more abundant." He visited all the members and endeavoured to ascertain the religious state and experience of each. This close examination of the church at length discovered to him a fact of which he was not previously cognizant, that discipline had been long neglected, and that among the members there were conflicting sentiments, some holding Sabellian, and some even Socinian opinions. Without giving in detail the various trials and difficulties with which Mr. Hargreaves had to contend, and which painfully to restore purity to the faith and the discipline of the church terminated in his resigning his connexion with it, amidst the profound regret of the majority of its members. It was, perhaps, more than a coincidence, and it was, at all events, a remarkable fact, reflecting the highest credit on the character and past labours of Mr. Hargreaves, that he received an invitation from the church at Ogden to return and resume the pastoral oversight, which was read and signed, not only the same day, but the very same hour, in which he resigned his charge at Hull. The intimation of God's will appeared to him too plain to admit of doubt or of delay, and on the 2nd of July, 1809, he appeared again as the pastor of the church in the pulpit at Ogden, surrounded by old and increasingly attached friends. He always regarded his trials at Hull as the rod of the Almighty on account of his leaving Ogden. How far this opinion was justified by all the facts of the case it is, perhaps, not for us to determine. The congregation at Ogden had greatly suffered during the absence of Mr. Hargreaves, but it now began to improve, and the church also increased in numbers. Although obliged to recommence his school, which soon became as large and as prosperous as before, he was engaged more than ever in preaching "the glorious gospel of the blessed God" in neighbouring towns and villages; and numerous were the applications he received to preach for religious institutions and on public occasions. His labours at this period of his life were really astonishing. While he refused no call that was made upon his time and strength for the cause of Christ, yet in the discharge of the duties of his school he lived in all good conscience before God. Among our churches in Lancashire which have been laid under lasting obligations to Mr. Hargreaves is that in Oldham, which to a great extent originated with him, and on behalf of which, to collect for the debt on the chapel, he took several long, wearisome, and painful journeys. One of these was to London in March, 1821. It is probable that his exertions for Oldham, and more especially his journey to London, led at last to his removal from Ogden. The church, suffering possibly from his frequent absence, again wore a discouraging aspect. Some of the senior members, between whom and himself a cordial sympathy existed, were removed by death. Churches in the neighbourhood seemed to give expression to his own unexpressed feelings and to anticipate his final decision by sending him invitations. Among the most urgent of these was one from Accrington. But previously to his going to the metropolis with the Oldham chapel case, one of the members of the church in Little Wild Street, London, visited him in Lancashire, and pressed his supplying them on probation. To this he consented, and although he had many inducements to decide in favour of Accrington, he at length yielded to the call of the church in Little Wild Street, and entered on his labours there on the second Lord's day in January, 1822. This removal was not undertaken until after much prayer, and was accompanied by deep solicitude and many heart-rending pangs. In his new sphere of labour he had to struggle against many difficulties within the church, and prejudices against it without. "If ever," he said, "I laboured for God, it was here." With great care he prepared for the pulpit. With a wise and holy sagacity he formed plans for the revival of the church and for the habitual exercise of a just and affectionate discipline. By his unremitting kind ness he brought back to the fellowship of the gospel alienated hearts, and through the influence of his conciliatory spirit he gathered around himself the warmest sympathies, and around his flock the renewed affection, of his ministerial brethren. The attendance increased, and between fifty and sixty members, the fruits of his ministry, were added to the church. But amidst all this outward prosperity, a worm was at its root; and on the 31st of June, 1828, he sent in his resignation to the church. His farewell sermons were preached on the 28th of September, in the same year. During the connexion of Mr. Hargreaves with the church in Wild Street, the London Baptist Building Fund was formed, principally through his influence, and he became its first secretary, an office which he sustained with great credit to himself and advantage to the denomination until his removal to Waltham Abbey. His sentiments on war have already been noticed. In the year 1816, a society was formed for "the Promotion of Permanent and Universal Peace." Of this society he became a member in 1818, and on his removal to London he was immediately added to its committee. On the resignation of Thomas Bell, Esq., as its secretary, he was urged to take the vacant office, with which request he complied, and held it, though latterly in conjunction with the Rev. Mr. Jefferson, until his death. The sense which the committe of that noble and Christian institution entertain of his great services in its cause will be best expressed by the following extract from their minutes, dated September the 19th, 1845:"That the committee of the London Peace Society receive the information of the decease of their venerable friend and valuable secretary, the Rev. James Hargreaves, with feelings of submission to the divine will;-they are thankful In his own brief memorial of the past, he says, "On coming to Waltham Abbey I felt a very strong and prevailing desire to discharge my duty, so as to keep my conscience clear from guilt, and so as should best promote the cause of God, the happiness of the church, and the welfare of the town ;" and for more than sixteen years did he watch for souls there as one that must give an account. that it has pleased the Supreme Dis- | hundred years from the opening of the poser of all events to spare him to a chapel, in which the worship of God good old age, and to enable him to was then conducted. maintain a consistent character through a long life, and to consecrate the energies of his mind and heart to the cause of sacred truth and the glory of the divine Redeemer;-they would especially express their thankfulness that he was permitted to witness the advancing progress of those pacific principles of Christianity to which he was so ardently attached, and for the diffusion of which he had so long and so disinterestedly laboured;-they cherish the recollection of their past intercourse with him with great satisfaction, and feel that to his enlightened judgment, his great prudence, his catholic spirit, and his firm, yet conciliatory manner, they have often been greatly indebted ;--and they would, in conclusion, affectionately commend his bereaved and aged widow, and his devoted and attentive niece, to the kind sympathy and care of that God who comforteth them that are cast down, praying that they may be graciously sustained by his divine power, preserved in peace to the close of their life on earth, and finally be re-united to him whom they have so long loved and watched in the regions of everlasting joy and peace above." Upon the resignation of his charge at Wild Street, Mr. Hargreaves had several invitations to other places. His own impression at this time was that his work as a pastor was done, and that although he might occasionally supply a vacant pulpit, it was now his duty to retire from the office which he had so long sustained. He was led, however, to see that he had mistaken the will of his heavenly Master. On the 11th of January, 1829, he accepted the invitation of the church in Waltham Abbey to be their pastor, and his public recognition took place on the 4th of May in that year, just one His last sermon was preached from Romans iii. 24, "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Mrs. Hargreaves, on the return of her husband from the pulpit on the Lord's day, often said to him, to ascertain his state of feeling, "Well, how have you preached to-day?" and his almost invariable reply, with a smile, was, "I have preached as well as I could.". On the occasion of his last sermon, when the same question was proposed, he replied with great earnestness and solemnity, "If ever I have preached the gospel in my life, I have preached it this morning." This was on the 8th of June, 1845. He was then too unwell to take the evening service. On the following day at a Bible Society meeting he became seriously ill, and for seven or eight weeks remained in a very critical state. For a short time he revived; but a relapse, the fatal termination of which was at the last somewhat rapid and unexpected, closed his long, and useful, and honourable life on the 16th of September, 1845, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. In the former part of his illness his sufferings were so acute that conversation with him was forbidden. He had a desire to recover," not," he said, "that I am afraid to die, but I think I can do something more yet for my Lord." He was often engaged in prayer, and yet lamented that on account of pain he could not pray more. On being reminded that the Lord knew his frame, and remembered that he was dust, he replied, “Yes, he does, and though I cannot pray much, I feel the spirit of prayer upon me;" and then he added, "I am a guilty sinner, but the blood and righteousness of Christ are my only foundation. Behold, God is my salvation." I do love him.-Yes, I do love him ; and that is of more importance to me than to see my pardon sealed on parchment, for if I love Christ I cannot be lost!" As his end approached, he was perfectly conscious of it. Taking the hand of the beloved companion of his earthly pilgrimage, he said, with a heavenly sweetness and composure, "Farewell, farewell!" and presently he "slept in Jesus." About a week before his death, hav- | He was buried on the 23rd of ing been left alone for a little while, he September, in a vault beneath the remarked to his niece, on her return to him, "Well, while you have been gone I have been trying to examine myself, and to ascertain whether I love Jesus Christ, and I think I do love him. north porch of the chapel, and on the following Lord's day evening, a funeral sermon was preached to his mourning church and congregation by the writer of this brief memoir, from Heb. xi. 21. ON SPIRITUAL POVERTY. BY THE REV. J. J. DAVIES. "Blessed are the poor in spirit." SUCH are the characters whom our Lord, in the first place, pronounces blessed,-the poor in spirit! Who would have expected this? How different from the language of the world; even of the professedly Christian world! A man prospers in business, he spreads himself out like a green bay-tree, he has more than heart can wish; and though it is evident that he has his portion in this life, yet we exclaim, How fortunate ! What a prosperous, what a happy man! But God's thoughts are not as our thoughts; neither are his ways like our ways. Jesus says, "Woe to you rich, for you have received your consolation;" but, "blessed be ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven!" And this he illustrates by a very affecting parable. There was a certain rich man, clothed in purple and fine linen, and who fared sump tuously every day." He was not guilty of dissipation or intemperance, of infidelity or irreligion; but he set his heart on his treasures; he sought satisfaction in the abundance of his possessions; he felt that he had enough here, and he had no thought of hereafter. But there is nothing permanent on earth-he died; and "in hell he opened his eyes, being in torment;" and when he pleaded for some alleviation of his wretchedness, he received this reply, "Remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things.' "-"Woe unto you rich, for you have received your consolation!" There was at the same time a poor man, not only straightened in his circumstances, but also afflicted in his person, for want had induced disease. Covered with wounds, unmollified, and all exposed, he might be seen daily sitting at the |