Rev. Joseph Hughes, A.M.
No institution since the Apostolic era will bear a comparison with the British and Foreign Bible Society,, whether we consider the period and circumstances of its origination, the supreme importance of its design, the Catholicism of its basis, the principle on which alone it depends for its success, the unbroken harmony of its numerous adherents, the magnitude of its undertakings, the immensity of its achievements, or the bearing of its operations on the great moral questions which agitate the world. To meet its growing and rapid demands, and to support its operations, especially by public meetings, three secretaries were appointed to defend, advocate, and recommend its claims. These were John Owen, chaplain to Bishop Poijteus, Dr. Steinkopff, a German Lutheran divine, and Joseph Hughes, a dissenter. The wisdom of the appointment appeared strikingly obvious. No three individuals could more have suited each other and their work.
Mr. Hughes, besides his secretaryship, had another relation to the Society. He not only attended from the first its formation; but may be, in some respects, acknowledged (as Mr. Owen in his history states) as influencing the commencement of it. This was enough to ennoble and immortalize him; but he would always say,” By the grace of God I am what I am.’ A good Life of this deservedly-esteemed man was published soon after his death by the Bev. Dr. Leifchild. In that work.
my opinion of him, generally expressed, is to be found.* My acquaintance with him is there also noticed. It was long and very intimate. We indulged in a peculiar freedom of mind towards each other; and there seemed to be but a single religious difference between us, and this was not an essential one. It did not, therefore, diminish our mutual regard. Some, perhaps, would deem it impossible to be the means of increasing it. But love and liberality have secrets which strangers intermeddle not with. And is there no pleasure in knowing that we are able to distinguish things that differ; that we have candour enough to allow others to think and judge for themselves; and that, instead of being “overcome of evil, we can overcome evil with good.^^ And is not bigotry such an evil?
He was a man of great simplicity of manners, and of freedom from affectation and all airs of superiority; and, though decidedly a Dissenter and a Baptist, not only from education but conviction, yet he had a most catholic spirit; and I do not wonder that the exercise of it, in some instances, awakened the suspicions of bigots, who feared that, because he was not rigid, he was not decided; and that, where there was no exclusiveness, there was no conviction.
He kept himself unspotted from the world, and was not only sincere, but” without rebuke until the day of Christ.^^
As a preacher he possessed materials and qualities which did not produce the advantages in his ministrations which might
have been expected. I remember the Bev. Mr. H n [Hintori]
of Oxford (his alter idem, and who was exceedingly attached to him) once asking this question —” Whence is it that our valued friend, who has such an unblemished reputation, and stands so high in public esteem, and has so much more learning than falls to the share of many of his brethren, and has such an easy
* See the addition to this paper at its close.
command of words, and such an affluence of imagery, and such a readiness of utterance — should make so little impression in preaching, compared with persons so inferior to him, in these and other attributes? ““Send this question,^^ said I,” to all the tutors in our academies; bring it forward also in every company of preachers; and show the propriety of learning from example as well as from precept, and from failure as well as from success, how to exceV
Some would, perhaps, ascribe a little of his want of popularity to his personal appearance. This was not prepossessing; but other preachers have succeeded without this species of attraction and impression. In part, his failure arose from his voice, which was inharmonious and weak, and, when elevated to the full, had a kind of dry shrillness, and allowed of no inflexions. But his style is the most faulty. Foster, in one of his letters to him, says,” Hall spoke much of your attainments and talents, but exceedingly condemned, what you know I always hate, the want of simplicity in your style.’^ It was this want of simplicity, rather than a want of right feeling, that made him fail in the pathetic. His metaphors were glances rather than comparisons. His beauties were too delicate to be striking, and required some degree of previous cultivation and taste to perceive and admire them. His discourses contained too little of the phraseology of the pulpit to be satisfactory to many of the common yet pious hearers, who were most familiar with the words which the Holy Ghost useth, and whose ears were most attuned to the language of their orthodox ancestors. And why should such hearers be disappointed or perplexed? And what is there less instructive and edifying in the diction of our old divinity, than in the terms of those who would rather remind us of Johnson and Addison, than of Leighton, Flavel, and Whitfield?
It was too much Mr. Hughes’s aim, not only as a writer but as a preacher, to render his language correct and refined, rather than bold and free. His concern here was extreme; and what Gray said of the penury of his” Churchyard ^’-peasant may be applied to the fastidiousness of our preacher —
“Fastidiousness repressed his noble rage,
And chiird the genial current of his soul.”
A dread of little mistakes and improprieties,, like the sword of Damocles, hung over his head, and prevented the relish of the banquet he would otherwise have enjoyed.
A preacher’s great and obvious attention, (and where it is great it will usually be obvious) to minutenesses in his composition and address, weakens the sympathy of his audience, and often hardly allows of a frigid approbation of what is deserving of praise. On the other hand, when a man is absorbed in his subject, little improprieties, should they occur, will either be unperceived, or as being more than atoned for, will be disregarded by a riveted audience.
And what should be the anxiety of a man of God — to gain admiration or to secure profit? To be favourably noticed for memory by two or three who have little more to recommend them than mere intellect; or to have numbers hanging upon his lips, and” wondering at the gracious words which proceed out of his mouth,’’ to the use of edifying? To appear the chaste classic from the schools, or the able minister of the New Testament full of grace and truth?
I always considered Mr. Hughes as one of the founders of the Tract Society, and also as the first suggest er of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Had he been distinguished by nothing else, surely this would have been sufficient to ennoble and immortalize him. One structure has made an architect; one poem, a poet; one battle, a hero. But what one exploit can be compared to that which led to the establishment of a society, which has translated the Scriptures into all languages; and is filling the earth with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the seas? And how much did he, who was honoured in the suggestion of this Godlike Institution, aid it afterwards by his Secretaryship, by his travels, and labours, and those addresses on the platform, which so much excelled the effect of his sermons!
Mr. Hughes was the first from whom I heard anything of the extraordinary powers of John Foster. He was then a student leaving Bristol Academy, where he had been only one year. Mr. Hughes prepared the way for the spread of his fame; and for this he had the best opportunities, especially on his settlement at Battersea; and having access to a variety of distinguished characters residing at Clapham Common. He was not mistaken in his estimate of this peculiar and original genius; but lived to see his opinion abundantly confirmed by the voice of the public. Mr. Hughes himself sold several hundred copies of the Essays when they first came out.
Mr. Hughes had the honour of being appointed to preach Mr. Hall’s funeral sermon. But how strange was the choice of his text on so peculiar an occasion! — “All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.’’ Job xiv. 14. It was as appropriate to a private believer, as to one of the most extraordinary of human beings. But he had prepared a funeral sermon from those words which he had preached a fortnight before at
H y. [Hackney] — “In all labour there is profit.” How
much do we often lose by sacrificing to ease? An old discourse seldom answers the purpose of a new occasion:
First: As something already prepared is learnt off, there will be relaxing of study and exertion.
Secondly: There will be less suitableness and pertinence to the event to be noticed and improved. And
Thirdly: There will be less liveliness and freshness of feeling in the preacher’s address.
Mr. Hughes was little known as an author. He published several single discourses, — a sermon before the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, — a sermon on the Sabbath, — and a sermon on the death of the Duke of Kent. He published also an Essay on the Excellency of the Scripture — his best performance.*
There were few men for whom I entertained a higher regard, or with whom I exchanged so much thought.
APPENDIX BY THE EDITORS.
The Rev. Dr. Leifchild, in his Life of the Rev. Joseph Hughes, thus introduces Mr. Jay’s opinion referred to in the preceding Article.
“With the Rev. W. Jay of Bath Mr. Hughes was more than ordinarily intimate. As far as two men, of somewhat different intellectual habits and theological views, could love one another, they did so love to the end of life. Let the survivor speak for himself, with his own characteristic naivete and force: —
“‘Mr. Hughes was often and much at Bath formerly, supplying several years at Argyle Chapel for six weeks together while I was in town. I have been intimately acquainted with him for upwards of forty-three years, and have exchanged more mind with him than with any man I ever knew, except my friend and tutor, Cornelius Winter. With regard to religious things, we only differed as to Baptism; and if we did not love each other the more for this difference, I am sure we did not love each other the less. We disagreed, too, a little with regard to composition and preaching: he too squeamish, and I too careless; he labouring for correctness, and I for impression; (in grasping which I sometimes erred;) he too satisfied if he could abide criticism; and I too careless of critical judgment, if I could secure effect. Yet though he was often kindly finding fault with me when we were alone, he was always seeking opportunities to hear me, and I “cannot be ignorant how much I shared his commendation as an author and a preacher. I am thankful for my intimacy with him. My esteem of him
* This was no doubt the Essay which prepared the way for the formation of the Bible Society. It is noticed in the Appendix to this article.
always grew with my intercourse. I never knew a more consistent, correct, and unblemished character. He was not only sincere, but without offence, and adorned the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.
“* His mind was full of information; his conversation singularly instructive, and very edifying; and while others talked of candour and moderation, he exemplified them. In his theological sentiments he was firm, yet sober and liberal; and not too orthodox (as I have often known this) to be evangelical. But why do I write this You know it as well as I, and will describe it better.’
Mr. Jay’s opinion that the conception of the British and Foreign Bible Society originated in the mind of his friend, Joseph Hughes, is fully confirmed by the Memoir from which the above extract is taken; and from which we must beg to present the following elucidation of a fact which has sometimes been obscured, if not actually denied.
‘’ The Rev. T. Charles, a clergyman of the Church of England, but frequently oflftciating among the Calvinistic Methodists in Wales, paid a visit to the Metropolis. He represented, with all the characteristic ardour and pathos of his native country, the dearth of Bibles in the native language of the Principality. He told of a scanty supply which had once been obtained from * The Society for promoting Christian Knowledge,’ but which by its inadequacy had served rather to increase than allay the anxiety of the inhabitants; as the thirsty earth but pines and languishes the more for a few big drops only from the cloud which had been expected to shower down an abundance of moisture. This individual being present as a visitor at the Committee Meeting of the Tract Society, expatiated on the subject of a supply of Welsh Bibles, (Mr. Joseph Tarn, a member of the Committee, having previously introduced him,) and urged it most earnestly upon the attention of the meeting. To supply Bibles was not the professed object of the Society; yet he could hardly have been introduced to a circle of individuals in the whole world more disposed to listen to his representations, to sympathize with his feelings, and to respond to his calls. The whole meeting instantly felt the desirableness of the object; but the mind of the Secretary (Mr. Hughes) was warmed with the subject, his previous train of reflections was recalled and quickened into motion, and wrought, it may well be believed, into a high degree of energy. His views, probably in connexion with those of the Members present, went much further than the specific object proposed to them — the supply of the Welsh. The precise language in which he expressed his views, it is now difiicult, if not impossible, to ascertain; and we must, therefore, be contented with the fact. Some, indeed, of the individuals present at that meeting who survive recollect nothing particular; others retain a sense of his distinct and emphatic utterance of this remark — * Why not Bihles for the whole country — for the whole world? ’
“The minutes of that meeting, which were revised by himself and Mr. Tarn, under a concern to leave a perfectly accurate account of what had transpired, record that such an object of solicitude, ‘AT the suggestion OF THE Secretary,’ [Mr. Hughes,) was deemed worthy of attention, was suitable for the notice of that body, and should be placed on record for consideration at their next meeting. This fact he himself, though careful of not having too much attributed to him, always admitted. It appeared in several printed accounts, while most of the members of that Committee were living; and all had access to the minutes as well as himself, and was never questioned. A variety of particulars in his correspondence, as well before as after this period, and the part immediately and thenceforward assigned to him in all ulterior proceedings, confirm the idea. It may, therefore, be safely concluded that the elements of the new institution were first of all deliberately conceived in his mind; — that there its original seed was planted by the hand of its Almighty Author. The facts above related occurred in the memorable morning of December 7, 1802. The views and feelings of all present accorded with the suggestion or suggestions made to the efiect above noticed.
Mr. Hughes was requested by the Chairman, in the name of the rest, to embody the sentiments then delivered in a written address, to be read to them at a future meeting convened for the purpose. He readily complied; and, after several meetings of the same kind, the address, with some few emendations, was ordered to be printed with a view to its immediate circulation. It was printed at first in quarto, the intention being to circulate it chiefly among persons in high station — individuals whose countenance might shield the magnitude of the scheme it proposed from the charge of wildness or utter impracticability. It was subsequently printed in octavo, and went through several editions.
“This pamphlet, which was entitled, * The Excellence of the Holy Scriptures: an Argument for their more general dispersion at home and abroad,* was the earliest public act of preparation for the establishment of that first and greatest of our National Societies. A document so momentous in its results, so excellent in itself, and so intimately connected with the subsequent history and everlasting renown of our friend, requires some further notice from the pen of his Biographer. A more important production, viewing the train of consequences to which it has led, and is still leading, surely never issued from the British press, saving only the Holy Bible itself.”
After giving a very complete analysis of Mr. Hughes’s work his Biographer thus concludes: —
“The publication of this pamphlet marks an era, undoubtedly one of the most propitious in the religious history of our country; and which will be pointed to and signalized in future ages as the date of one of the most popular, most useful, and most important Institutions that ever blessed the world.
“The publication of Mr. Hughes’s Essay took place early in 1803; and for something more than a year the project was contemplated with serious, and, it may be believed, with much prayerful thought, by pious and benevolent men of various Christian denominations. At length its first general public meeting was called, on March the Yth, 1804. Granville Sharpe, Esq, in the Chair.” — Memoir of Rev. Joseph Hughes, A.M., p. 142, 194, 207, 209.