His last day, October 10th, was very happy. Mrs. P. repeated this verse, Since all that I meet shall work for my good; The bitter is sweet, the med'cine is food; Though painful at present, 'twill cease before long, He repeated, with an inexpressible smile, the last line, "The conqueror's song." He said once, "O my dear! What shall I do? But why do I complain; he makes all my bed in my sickness." She then repeated those lines, Jesus can make a dying bed, Feel soft as downy pillows are.' "Yes," he replied, "he can, he does, I feel it.” CHAP. V. General Outlines of his Character. To develop the character of any person, it is necessary to determine what was his governing principle. If this can be clearly ascertained, we shall easily account for the tenour of his conduct. The governing principle in Mr. Pearce, beyond all doubt, was holy love. To mention this, is sufficient to prove it to all who knew him. His friends have often compared him to that disciple whom Jesus loved. His religion was that of the heart. Almost every thing he saw, or heard, or read, or studied, was converted to the feeding of this divine flame. Every subject that passed through his hands seemed to have been cast into this mould. Things that to a speculative mind would have furnished matter only for curiosity, to him afforded materials for devotion. His sermons were generally the effusions of his heart, and invariably aimed at the hearts of his hearers. For the justness of the above remarks I might appeal, not only to the letters which he addressed to his friends, but to those which his friends addressed to him. It is worthy of notice, how much we are influenced in our correspondence by the turn of mind of the persons we address. If we write to a humorous charaterter, we shall generally find that what we write, perhaps without being conscious of it, will be interspersed with pleasantries; or if to one of a very serious cast, our letters will be more serious than usual. On this principle it has been thought we may form some judgment of our own spirit by the spirit in which our friends address us. These remarks will apply with singular propriety to the correspondence of Mr. Pearce. In looking over the first volume of "Periodical Accounts of the Baptist_Mission," the reader will easily perceive, the most affectionate letters from the Missionaries are those which are addressed to him. It is not enough to say of this affectionate spirit, that it formed a prominent feature in his character: it was rather the life-blood that animated the whole system. He seemed, as one of his friends observed, to be baptized in it. It was holy love that gave the tone to his general deportment: as a son, a subject, a neighbour, a Christian, a minister, a pastor, a friend, a husband, and a father, he was manifestly governed by this principle; and this it was that produced in him that lovely uniformity of character, which constitutes the true beauty of holiness. By the grace of God he was what he was; and to the honour of grace, and not for the glory of a sinful worm, be it recorded. Like all other men, he was the subject of a depraved nature. He felt it, and lamented it, and longed to depart that he might be freed from it: but certainly we have seldom seen a character, taking him altogether, "whose excellencies were so many and so uniform, and whose imperfections were so few." We have seen men rise high in contemplation, who have abounded but little in action. We have seen zeal mingled with bitterness, and candour degenerate into indifference; experimental religion mixed with a large portion of enthusiasm; and what is called rational religion, void of every thing that interests the heart of man. We have seen splendid talents tarnished with insufferable pride; seriousness with melancholy; cheerfulness with levity; and great attainments in religion with uncharitable censoriousness towards men of low degree; but we have not seen these things in our Brother Pearce. There have been few men in whom has been united a greater portion of the contemplative and the active : holy zeal and genuine candour; spirituality and rationality; talents that attracted almost universal applause, and yet the most unaffected modesty; faithfulness in bearing testimony against evil, with the tenderest compassion to the soul of the evil doer; fortitude that would encounter any difficulty in the way of duty, without any thing boisterous, noisy, or overbearing; deep seriousness, with habitual cheerfulness; and a constant aim to promote the highest degrees of piety in himself and others, with a readiness to hope the best of the lowest; not "breaking the bruised reed," nor "quenching the smoking flax.' "He loved the Divine character as revealed in the Scriptures." To adore God, to contemplate his glorious perfections, to enjoy his favour, and submit to his disposal, were his highest delight. "I felt (says he, when contemplating the hardships of a missionary life), that were the universe destroyed, and I the only being in it besides God, he is fully adequate to my complete happiness; and had I been in an African wood, surrounded with venomous serpents, devouring beasts, savage men; in such a frame I should be the subject of perfect peace, and exalted joy. Yes, O my God! thou hast taught me that thou alone art worthy of my confidence; and, with this sentiment fixed in my heart, I am freed from all solicitude about my temporal concerns. If thy presence be enjoyed, poverty shall be riches; darkness, light; affliction, prosperity; reproach, my honour and fatigue, my rest." "He loved the Gospel." The truths which he believed and taught dwelt richly in him, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. The reader will recollect how he went over the great principles of Christianity, examining the grounds on which he rested, in the first of those days which he devoted to solemn fasting and prayer in reference to his becoming a missionary*; and with what ardent affection he set his seal anew to every part of divine truth as he went along. If salvation had been of works, few men, according to our way of estimating characters, had a fairer claim: but, as he himself has related, he could not meet the king of terrors in this armourt. So far was he from plac+ Chap. i, p. 87. * See chap. ii, p. 107. ing any dependence on his own works, that the more he did for God, the less he thought of it in such a way. "All the satisfaction I wish for here (says he) is to be doing my heavenly Father's will. I hope I have found it my meat and drink to do his work; and can set to my seal, that the purest pleasures of human life spring from the humble obedience of faith. It is a good saying, ' We cannot do too much for God, nor trust in what we do too little.' I find a growing conviction of the necessity of a free salvation. The more I do for God, the less I think of it; and am progressively ashamed that I do no more. Christ crucified was his darling theme, from first to last. This was the subject on which he dwelt at the outset of his ministry among the Coldford colliers, when "he could scarcely speak for weeping, nor they hear for interrupting sighs and sobs." This was the burthen of the song, when addressing the more polished and crowded audiences at Birmingham, London, and Dublin; this was the grand motive exhibited in sermons for the promotion of public charities; and this was the rock on which he rested all his hopes, in the prospect of death. It is true, as we have seen, he was shaken for a time by the writings of a Whitby, and of a Priestley; but this transient hesitation, by the over-ruling grace of God, tended only to establish him more firmly in the end. "Blessed be his dear name (says he, under his last affliction) who shed his blood for me. He helps me to rejoice at times with joy unspeakable. Now I see the value of the religion of the cross. It is a religion for a dying sinner. It is all the most guilty and the most wretched can desire. Yes, I taste its sweetness, and enjoy its fulness, with all the gloom of a dying bed before me; and far rather would I be the poor emaciated and emaciating creature that I am, than be an emperor, with every earthly good about him, but without a God." Notwithstanding this, however, there were those in Birmingham, and other places, who would not allow that he preached the Gospel. And if by the Gospel were meant the doctrine taught by Mr. Huntington, Mr. Bradford, and others who followed hard after them, it must be granted he did not. If the fall and depravity of man operate to destroy his accountableness to his CreaR tor; if his inability to obey the law, or comply with the gospel, be of such a nature as to excuse him in the negfect of either; or, if not, yet if Christ's coming under the law frees believers from all obligations to obey its precepts; if Gospel invitations are addressed only to the regenerate; if the illuminating influences of the Holy Spirit consist in revealing to us the secret purposes of God concerning us, or impressing us with the idea that we are the favourites of heaven; if believing such impressions be Christian faith, and doubting of their validity unbelief; if there be no such thing as progressive sanctification, or any sanctifiation inherent, except that of the illumination before described; if wicked men are not obliged to do any thing beyond what they can find in their hearts to do, nor good men to be holy beyond what they actually are; and if these things constitute the Gospel, Mr. Pearce certainly did not preach it. But if man, whatever be his depravity, be necessarily a free agent, and accountable for all his dispositions and actions; if Gospel invitations be addressed to men, not as elect nor as non-elect, but as sinners exposed to the righteous displeasure of God; if Christ's obedience and death rather increase than diminish our obligations to love God and one another; if faith in Christ be a falling in with God's way of salvation, and unbelief a falling out with it; if sanctification be a progressive work, and so essential a branch of our salvation, as that without it no man shall see the Lord; if the Holy Spirit instruct us in nothing by his illuminating influences but what was already revealed in the Scriptures, and which we should have perceived but for that we loved darkness rather than light; and if he incline us to nothing but what was antecedently right, or to such a spirit as every intelligent creature ought at all times to have possessed, then Mr. Pearce did preach the Gospel; and that which his accusers call by this name is another gospel, and not the Gospel of Christ. Moreover, If the doctrine taught by Mr. Pearce be not the Gospel of Christ, and that which is taught by the above writers and their adherents be, it may be expected that the effects produced will in some degree correspond with this representation. And is it evident to all men, who are acquainted with both, and who judge impartially, that the doctrine taught by Mr. Pearce is produc |