"Sacred to the memory of the Rev. RICHARD WATSON, who died in the Lord, January 8th, 1833, in the 52nd year of his age. A man not more distinguished for the admirable endowments of his mind than for the depth of his piety, the fervour of his zeal, and the consecration of his powerful genius to the service of God in His sanctuary, and the spiritual interests of mankind; an amiable expounder of the lively oracles of God, an eloquent, argumentative, and impressive preacher of the Gospel, an affectionate paster of the flock which Christ hath purchased with His own blood, a profound theological writer, a successful advocate of missions to the heathen. As one who walked humbly with God, his name will be long and gratefully associated with the principal writers and ornaments of the Christian Church. Unto the King Eternal, Immortal, and Invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory, for ever and ever, Amen."" Dr. Watts and the Rev. John Newton, as well as Charles Wesley were writers of hymns which will never die. The chief of Dr. Watts' works and hymns were written while residing with Lady Abney, more as a child at home than as a guest, at her mansion in Abney Park (now Abney Park Cemetery). He was born at Southampton, in 1674. His father, who was imprisoned for his nonconformity, kept a boarding school, and it is said that the mother suckled her son Isaac sitting on a stone at the prison door. Isaac began to learn Latin at four, and wrote poetry at seven years of age. He dwelt thirty-six years in the mansion of Lady Abney, and suffered much from sickness, chiefly wakefulness. He died November 25, 1748, and was buried in Bunhill Fields, City Road. His epitaph, composed by himself, reads thus : "ISAAC WATTS, D.D., Pastor of a Church of Christ in London; successor of the Rev. Mr. Joseph Caryl, Dr. John Owen, Mr. David Clarkson, and Dr. Isaac Chauncey; after fifty years of feeble labours in the Gospel, interrupted by four years of tiresome sickness, was at last dismissed to rest, Nov. 25, A.D. 1748, æt. 75. 2 Cor v. 8, Absent from the body, present with the Lord.' Col. iii. 4- When Christ who is our life shall appear, I shall also appear with Him in glory.' "In uno Jesu omnia." A beautiful cenotaph was erected to his memory in Abney Park Cemetery in 1843, where also may be seen what is still called Dr. Watts' mound-a retired spot, shaded with trees, where the doctor used to meditate and compose. The Rev. John Newton, as is well known, was an illustrious instance of the power of Divine grace. After sinking into depths of blasphemy and infidelity, he was rescued by the Spirit of God to become a preacher of the Gospel and a writer of hymns-grace which he acknowledged in the following epitaph which he composed himself. He died triumphantly December 21st, 1807, and was buried in the vault of the Church of St. Mary Woolnoth, Lombard Street, of which he was rector for twenty-eight years, being previously curate and rector of Olney for sixteen years. He reached the ripe age of eighty-two years, being born in 1725, in London. In a letter to his executors, he says, "I propose writing an epitaph for myself, if it may be put up, on a plain marble tablet near the vestry door, to the following purport: "JOHN NEWTON, CLERK, Once an infidel and libertine, A servant of slaves in Africa, Was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour Preserved, restored, pardoned, Daughter of the late George Catlett, He resigned her to the Lord who gave her, "And I earnestly desire that no other monument, and no inscription but to this purport, may be attempted for me." The Rev. W. H. Havergal, M.A., Vicar of Shareshill, a sweet spirit, and another hymn-writer, as well as musical composer, to whom the chief credit, if not all the credit, is due for the improvement in modern psalmody, was buried at Astley churchyard, near Kidderminster, Worcestershire, on the 23rd April, 1870, having died on the 19th, aged seventy-seven. He was the composer of the celebrated common-metre tune "Evan." Another hymn-writer, the Rev. H. F. Lyte, A.M., author of the hymn," Abide with me," lies in the chapel yard of the English Church at Nice. His epitaph reads as follows: "Here rest The mortal remains of the : For 25 years minister of Lower Brixham, in the County of Devon. 'God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of The Rev. John Fletcher, though a minister of the Church of England, united himself with the Rev. John Wesley in evangelistic work, and seemed to realise in himself that Christian perfection which was one of the most important subjects of their public teaching. He was buried in the churchyard at Madeley, and the following is his epitaph: "Here lies the body of The Rev. JOHN WILLIAM DE LA FLECHERE, He was born at Nyon, in Switzerland, And finished his course at this village, Unexampled labours will be long remembered. While others constrained him to take up 'All day long have I stretched out my hands 'He being dead yet speaketh!'" A tablet, with a long inscription, doing honour to his genius, his Christian character, and the efficient aid he rendered to the cause of Methodism by his sympathies and his writings-particularly his "Checks to Antinomianism "-is fixed in City Road Chapel. A group of eminent Nonconformist ministers lie buried in Bunhill Fields and in Abney Park Cemetery. In Bunhill Fields lies the celebrated and immortal John Bunyan, who wrote sixty books, and lived sixty years, and who has been lately honoured by the erection of a statue in Bedford, his native town. His only epitaph, and it is sufficient, reads: "MR. JOHN BUNYAN, Author of the 'Pilgrim's Progress,' Ob. 31st August, 1688, æt. 60." Richard Baxter, whose remains lie in Christ Church, London, without monument or inscription, has also somewhat tardily received worthy recognition, by the erection of a statue to his honour in Kidderminster. He was born at Rowton, in Shropshire, November 12th, 1615. Dean Stanley said of him at the uncovering of his statue, "He preached prodigious sermons, lasting for three hours long, and he printed some said 150 and some said 200 volumes. When Boswell asked Dr. Johnson, which of Baxter's works he recommended to be read, that stout old Churchman roared, 'Read them all.'" The great theologian, Thomas Goodwin, D.D., an Independent, who was born at Rolesby, in Norfolk, and died February 23rd, 1679, in the eightieth year of his age, also lies in Bunhill Fields, as also do Joseph Hughes, Nathaniel Lardner, John Owen, and Matthew Wilks. The Rev. Joseph Hughes, M.A., a Baptist, born in 1768, was the originator of that great institution, the Bible Society. The inscription on his tomb is as follows : "Rev. JOSEPH HUGHES, M.A., Secretary to the British and Foreign Bible Society, died Oct. 3rd, 1833, aged 64 years.' The inscription on the tomb of Nathaniel Lardner, D.D., a Presbyterian, reads: "The Rev. NATHANIEL LARDNER, D.D., author of the Credibility of the Gospel History'; Ancient Jewish and Heathen testimonies to the truth of the Christian religion,' and several other smaller pieces, monuments of his learning, judgment, candour, impartiality, beneficence, and true piety. He was born at Hawkhurst, in the county of Kent, June 6th, 1684, and died on a visit there, July 24th, 1768, in the 85th year of his age. 'An Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile !'" His great work on the "Credibility of the Gospel History" took up thirty-three years of his life, and cost him immense labour. The Rev. Matthew Wilks was converted to God in 1771, by hearing a sermon under a window. He was born at Gibraltar, September 21st, 1746, and was distinguished in after life for his wit and general sprightliness of mind. He laboured for fifty-three years as a minister of the Gospel. The inscription on his tomb is very plain : "Rev. MATTHEW WILKS, died January 29th, 1829, aged 82 years, 4 months.' Abney Park Cemetery contains some precious remains. There lies the Rev. ALGERNON WELLS, who laboured as a Congregational minister for nearly twenty years at Coggeshall, in Essex, and afterwards at Clapham Church for eleven years; also JOHN PYE SMITH, born in 1774 at Sheffield, theological tutor in Homerton College for forty five years, and author of "Scripture Testimony to the Messiah," and other valuable works, dying in 1851; also the Rev. Dr. MedHURST, missionary to the Chinese, who died three days after landing from China, where he spent forty years in noble work for God, aged sixty-one; also the Rev. JOHN CAMPBELL, D.D., editor of the "Christian Witness," and the "Christian Penny Magazine," born at Kirriemuir, Scotland, in 1795, died March 26th, 1867; also the Rev. ANDREW REED, D.D., pastor of Wycliffe Chapel, London, where he was born in 1787, and died in 1862; also of the Rev. JOSIAH CONDER; and also of the Rev. JOHN VINE HALL, celebrated as the author of the "The Sinner's Friend," which has been translated into nearly thirty-six languages, and who was the father of the Rev. Newman Hall and Arthur Hall, both eminent ministers of the Gospel. Bishop Butler, author of "The Analogy," was born at Wantage, in Berkshire, 18th May, 1692; early in life he got into metaphysical controversy with Dr. Samuel Clarke; published his “Analogy,” a masterpiece, in 1736; was made Bishop of Bristol in 1738 and Bishop of Durham in 1750. He died at Bath in 1752, and was buried in the cathedral church, Bristol. The following is the inscription over his remains, by Dr. Southey, erected in 1834: "He who believes the Scripture to have proceeded from HIM who is the AUTHOR OF NATURE, may well expect to find the SAME SORT OF DIFFICULTIES in it as are found in the CONSTITUTION OF Nature,'-Origen, Philocal, p. 23." The remains of St. Augustin, learned, pious, and benevolent, are said to lie in the temple, In Cielo Aureo, Pavia, Italy. His body was cast about from one place to another in those unrestful times, first being transported to Sardinia by the Romans who fled before the victorious arms of the Vandals, then being conveyed to Pavia, where it lay forgotten till the seventeenth century. St. Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, lies in an ancient church some distance from the cathedral, under the high altar. The following sentence is said to be engraved on Martin Luther's tomb:-"Judicio Pylium, genio Socratem, arte Maronem" (In judgment a Nestor, in genius a Socrates, in art a Virgil). Passing thus from grave to grave of good men of God, who spent their lives in toil for others' good, whose spirits were often severely tried by doubts and weighted with heavy responsibilities, we learn to appreciate more keenly and estimate more highly the virtues of selfdenial and self-sacrifice; we begin to see that, although a life spent in good doing, in forgetfulness of self, may bring with it many anxieties, much lonely communing, much sad revelation of the general ignobleness of humanity, much wear and tear of spirit And, thinking of their calm repose on the bosom of God, and beginning to covet a similar rest from toil for ourselves, perhaps wə are ready to add, in the further words of Montgomery : "I long to lay this painful head It is worthy of remembrance that, in the case of each of the good men of God whose graves we have visited, their slumbers are sweet because their toil was faithful. "The Christian sleeps in Jesus-blessed thought! Hush, mourners! though ye could, awake him not! Through sorrow's night we see the morning star, Newton Heath, Manchester. JOSEPH HUGHES. |