CHAPTER IV.

VIEWS RESPECTING THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY-PRELIMINARY DIFFICULTIES -LETTER TO HIS MOTHER-TO HIS FATHER-TO THE REV. J. BREWER -PRESIDES OCCASIONALLY AT CHURCH-MEETINGS-HIS SERVICES IN HIS FATHER'S BUSINESS-HIS SUBJECTION TO HIS PARENTS-LETTER TO HIS PARENTS-PARENTAL OBJECTIONS OVERCOME-LETTER TO THE REV. M. PHILLIPS-TO THE CHURCH-ENTERS ROTHERHAM ACADEMY -ROTHERHAM ACADEMY IN 1796-HIS GREAT FACILITY IN ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE-" LECTURES ON THE HUMAN MIND" TO HIS FELLOW-STUDENTS HIS LATIN ORATIONS HIS LAST LATIN ORATION -DISTRIBUTION OF HIS TIME AT COLLEGE

KIRKPATRICK-VISIT TO WYMONDLEY

TO DR. WILLIAMS-LEAVES ROTHERHAM.

-

LETTER

ΤΟ REV. J.

ACADEMY-CHESTER-LETTER

IT has been seen that as early as 1792, a few months prior to the date of his joining the Christian Church, PYE SMITH had received a Letter from a friend on the important subject to which this chapter is devoted. An imperfect copy of his answer remains, showing that his thoughts were not at that time leaning towards the work of the ministry; but were rather on the side of continuing in his business as a bookseller. By the next year, however, some change had taken place, for he felt it to be his duty to engage in occasional services as a lay preacher. Yet even here he had to meet with difficulties; his parents were disinclined to fall in with his desires, as may be learned from a copy of a Letter, under date 1793, designed for his Pastor, Mr. Brewer, but which was not sent until February, 1794 :—

"As far as I can know myself, I can sincerely assert that my leading views in this affair are simply to arrive at some satisfactory determination respecting what has long occupied my thoughts in a hesitating and uncertain

manner.

ÆT. 22.]

PRELIMINARY DIFFICULTIES.

39

"To answer this end, therefore, I will state some objections (all of which, except the last, were made to me by my father) with replies to them.

"If you undertake any such public engagement, you will draw a number of observers upon you, who will bestow the most curious and critical attention, and will probably pass a severe and ill-natured censure upon you. To this, I think, no very elaborate answer is needed. May it ever be far from me to desist from the performance of any duty on account of such persons as these, or even to give myself one moment's anxiety to please them. It would be a sad degradation of the Christian character to be influenced by such a consideration as this.

"You are now engaged in the acquisition of several branches of learning, which, together with your necessary attendance upon business, leave you little or no leisure to make proper preparations. This objection derives all its weight from an erroneous supposition. It takes for granted that to collect proper matter to fill up ten minutes or perhaps half an hour once in three or four weeks, would occupy an unreasonable portion of time. I think that the little remnants of time which I can employ in this manner will not trespass upon my necessary avocations, except a little time immediately previous to the performance; and this will not, I apprehend, be thought an unreasonable request, provided that other objections can be removed.

"In your present situation, which has the advantage of being in some respects a literary life, you will be more useful, and certainly less embarrassed, than even in the capacity of a preacher of the gospel. This is again a conclusion from premises not proved. You, Sir, have some knowledge of what have long been my sentiments about the sacred ministry. But, in order to give my ideas more precisely upon this subject, I take the liberty of inclosing part of an answer to a Letter which I received in July, 1792. I am now still more satisfied of the truth of the principle upon which I then expressed myself that no one should ever presume to take this honour upon himself unless clearly called of God.

"There is no need whatsoever for your offices. This is a more rational argument than the former. If what it asserts be true, there is at once an end of the matter. It would not become me to contradict it. If any facts exist sufficient to confute it, you are best acquainted with them.

"Is it not an unbecoming forwardness in you to wish to enter into an engagement of so public a kind? I apprehend that every Christian, so long as he is in this flesh, has reason to lament imperfection in motive as well as in action. As far as I have been able by serious research and prayer to know my own heart, I can sincerely assert that my impulsive motives are earnest and humble desires that God may be glorified; and (if agreeable to His will) that I may be in some degree instrumental to promote His honour among my fellow-creatures. But I do not pretend that I do not feel other base considerations sometimes; yet I dare affirm that I allow them not, neither do I act upon those principles."

The original draft of the above Letter was left in this unfinished state; and in that state the writer copied and sent it to Mr. Brewer with a short note explanatory of his reasons for

• The Letter relates to lay preaching, excepting in one or two parts.-ED.

so doing and evidently with a desire, perhaps an expectation, that the Pastor would confer with Mr. and Mrs. Smith on the subject. Two Letters then follow, belonging from their contents to the same period, but without any date or address on the outside; and which, on that account, and because they were found among Dr. Smith's own papers, were probably never out of his possession.

The first was to his mother; to whom he thus wrote:

men.

"If I am not deceived, I think you have an objection to such characters as preaching tradesmen, from an idea that they are usually regarded in a contemptible light. Too many, indeed, are contemptible, and deservedly; but it is for other reasons than because they are merely either preachers or tradesWith regard to what you have said concerning the work of the ministry, I must observe that in what I wrote yesterday no such thoughts were in my mind. Since the conversation I had with Mr. Brewer last winter, I have uniformly regarded it as my duty to continue in my present situation, till Providence should clearly show the propriety of a change. It would be an act of ungrateful disobedience for me to put my father to such inconveniences as my absence would probably occasion. In so doing I could not reasonably look for a Divine blessing. In the conversation just referred to, Mr. Brewer was of the same opinion; he added, that he conceived it was my duty to embrace every opportunity for study and improvement in literature, particularly sacred literature: and he intimated, what he had before positively and fully declared, that it would be proper for me to attempt serving the cause of Christ in an occasional manner. This is the substance of the advice he gave me."

This Letter was evidently written before the term of his apprenticeship had expired; and although he yields up the point respecting the stated ministry during that term, he puts in a plea at once cogent and becoming, suited to his position as a son, and yet clearly expressing his sense of a higher dutythat he should be allowed in the meanwhile to study the Scriptures and to preach occasionally, if he could do this without detriment to his filial obligations. Nor is it without its significance, that he had to fall back on the opinion of Mr. Brewer, in support of this moderate request.

Although the next Letter is also without a date, there are references and expressions which show it to have been written either towards the end of 1795, or early in 1796-written, therefore, after the close of his apprenticeship, which terminated April 2, in the former of these two years. It will ac

ÆT. 22.]

LETTER TO HIS FATHER.

41

cordingly be read as the production of a young man who was then, to use a common phrase, his own master.

"It is now five years and a half since I began to be seriously concerned about eternal things. Through Divine mercy, though on ten thousand accounts I have reason for shame and self-abhorrence, I humbly trust that that concern has not been of a slight and transient kind. To be unfeignedly and universally devoted to God is, I hope, the object of my ambition. To be enabled in any way to promote His cause among men would be the rejoicing of my soul. For a considerable time my mind has been influenced by a powerful inclination towards the greatest and most momentous of all engagements, the service of God in His sanctuary. Yet, as such a propensity, considered alone, should have little regard as a reason for important action, -I have hitherto thought it my duty to observe strict silence on the subject, except to one or two intimate friends. I have constantly committed this affair unto the Lord, praying and hoping that He will direct my paths.

"My reason for making known the state of my mind to you is this.-Time and opportunity for the service of God are hastening away, and the inclination of my mind towards the sacred work does not wear off, but increase; it would therefore be very desirable to bring the matter to some issue. If God has any work for me to do in His Church, the present favourable opportunity for beginning a course of study to very great advantage ought not to be neglected. But if it is not so, it is time that I should lay aside all thoughts of it. I am indeed not able to form a satisfactory judgment upon this great concern. I trust that my eye is single. Perhaps if the matter were fairly stated to a few of our most serious and judicious friends, their deliberate opinion might decide it: I am sure it would be of very great weight with me. Mr. Brewer, whose kind friendship, instruction and advice will never, I hope, be faintly remembered by me, is in possession of some papers upon this subject, which I put in his hands near two years ago. These will show what has been the state of my mind for above three years.

"My object is to know what is in reality the way of duty. Whatever that may clearly appear to be I will thankfully and cheerfully walk in it, by Divine help."

Mr. Brewer, to whom such frequent references have been made, appears to have resigned the pastoral office at Sheffield, and to have accepted one in Birmingham, early in 1796. When his purpose to make this change became known, his attached pupil and member, Pye Smith, wrote a long Letter to induce him to remain at Sheffield. Without quoting from this paper, it is due to the Reader to mention it, since it presents the first example that has been found of a peculiarity in Dr. Smith's style which can scarcely fail to have excited attention-namely; a sudden transition from pleading with man to an earnest appeal or supplication addressed to Jehovah. In this way, and with his own pen, what might have been in many cases the

silent ejaculations of the heart, are made legible. His devout aspirations have for the time a kind of self-recording power, by which they are brought into view with all the freshness and energy of life, as distinct from a mere reference to them as prayers which he offered in private. Writing to Mr. Brewer he says:- "Can you forsake a people who love you as their own souls, and who are ready to do anything that they can for you?" The unanswered question, the line that leaves the matter in suspense, are instantly followed by an appeal commencing thus:-"But to whom should we go, O Lord, but to Thee? Give us help from trouble, for vain is the help of man. O prepare mercy and truth to go before us. We are called by Thy name; we are thine; Father of all mercy, be gracious unto us!"

When the Church at Queen Street Chapel were about to invite the Rev. James Boden to become their Pastor-an office which he subsequently undertook, and sustained for a long course of years of useful labour-an address was prepared to the "congregation at large," of which there is a copy in the handwriting of Pye Smith. It begins thus:

"OUR DEAR CHRISTIAN FRIENDS,-The situation in which we now are is indisputably of the utmost importance. Destitute of a stated pastor to go before us in the Lord, we look up to the Great Chief Shepherd for His guidance and protection; and we earnestly entreat your union with us in the exercises of fervent prayer and supplication, -now more than ever urgent and necessary. After serious deliberation, it has appeared to us advisable to consider on the propriety of giving a solemn invitation to the Rev. James Boden, to accept of the pastoral office among us. Though the right of electing a minister belongs to us as a Church, entirely, solely, and exclusively; yet we consider the concurrence of our much esteemed brethren who compose the great body of the congregation, as of the highest importance."

During the vacancy in the pastoral office at Queen Street, Pye Smith was occasionally called upon to preside at Churchmeetings. A fellow-student of his at Rotherham who still survives, the Rev. John Hammond of Handsworth, says, in a Letter recently received, that at a Church-meeting held in July, 1796, "four of us were admitted, when he gave us a