His First Sermon at Ablington

My DEAR Children, — Great attainments and qualifications were not necessary in those rude villages where we made our first attempts to minister. But we knew enough from scripture and our own experience to shew unto men the way of salvation,” and to say,” Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.

This early preaching unquestionably broke in much upon our studies: but the tutor did everything in his power, by rule and restriction, to lessen the injury, while there were some rather compensatory advantages arising from it. First, Hereby good was done in the conversion of sinners in many instances, some of which were very striking; and what is the gain of the whole world to the value of one soul? And, secondly, The usage tended, by its exercise, and by the preparation for it, to keep the minds of the students in the things of God; and it is well known, that literary application, and the free mingling of young men together, do not much befriend spirituality of mind. Thirdly, It was of great advantage to the young pupil to begin, before he knew too much, to feel certain difiiculties, and to gain confidence and facility by practice. And thus, though the scholar was injured, the preacher was benefited.

In the review of the case, I cannot see how a man of God, (whatever his zeal for learning might be,) circumstanced as Mr. Winter was, could have conscientiously acted otherwise than he did; and much as I have always lamented, in addition to my original want of education, the loss of some literary advantages, I not only submit to what appears to have been the will of God, but upon the whole am even thankful for such a course of things as I passed through. God has not only a right to choose for us, but as he appoints us our stations and offices, and foresees all they will require, he arranges our trainings, and renders all our previous circumstances and experience preparatory to our fitness.

“Thy method cross’d my way, and young desire,
Which did to academic eminence aspire.

. Fain I’d have sat in such a nurse’s lap
Where I might long have had a sluggard’s nap,
Or have been dandled on her reverend knees,
And known by honoured titles and degrees;
And there have spent the flower of my days

In soaring in the air of human praise.

♦ # ♦ # ♦

My youthful pride and folly how I see.
That grudged for want of title and degree.”

Some may be surprised at the earliness of my preaching, for I began a few months after I was placed at Marlborough. Some, also, will doubtless censure it, and it is easy for them to say much in support of their censure. Yet I cannot in this case blame myself. It was not from my own forwardness, or of my own choosing; but I was under the authority and direction of another, and bound to obey, even if I could not entirely acquiesce. How sad is a spirit of resistance, especially in students for the ministry! They are best prepared to rule and govern who have previously learned to obey and serve. Why do not tutors expel for insubordination, as well as for error or vice?

I remember a circumstance hardly worth relating. Soon after I had begun my early career, I went to supply for a sabbath at Melksham. At this time was residing there an old gentleman from London, a very wise man, at least in his own conceit. I called upon him on the Monday morning. He received me rather uncourteously. He did not, indeed, censure my preaching, but rudely said, he had no notion of beardless boys being employed as preachers. “Pray, sir,^^ said I, “does not Paul say to Timothy, Let no man despise thy youth ?^ And, sir, you remind me of what I have read of a French monarch, who had received a young ambassador, and complaining, said, ‘Your master should not have sent me a beardless stripling.’ * Sir,’ said the youthful ambassador, ’ had my master supposed you wanted a beard, he would have sent you a goat.’”

The first sermon I preached was at Ablington — a village near Stonehenge. The text was 1 Peter ii. 3: “If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” The division was, 1. The Lord is gracious. 2. The best way to know this grace is by tasting it. 3. Such knowledge will have an influence over the possessor; for if we have tasted that the Lord is gracious it will induce us to love him — it will draw out our desires after more — it will make us anxious to bring others to partake with us, saying, “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us.” “O taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”

I was little more than sixteen when I began; and from this period I was called to preach with no little frequency; and before I was of age, I had preached, I believe, near a thousand sermons; for in all our places, then, we always preached three times on the Sabbath, with some week-day services.

While I was at Marlborough, and after I had begun preaching, with considerable acceptance and success, it was inquired by some of those who had contributed to my educational support, and who were themselves moderate Episcopahans, whether it should be proposed to me to go to the University, and enter the church; but Sir Richard Hill and John Thornton the philanthropist * decided against it, saying, ‘’ God has opened the young

* Had Mr. Jay personally known Mr. Thornton, he would no doubt have given us a sketch of that eminent philanthropist. In an article furnished by Sir James Stephen to the Edinburgh Review for July, 1844, and entitled “The Clapham Sect,” is the following allusion to the subject of this note. “John Thornton was a merchant renowned in his generation for a munificence more than princely, and consecrated to the reverence of posterity by the letters and poetry of Cowper. He was one of those rare men in whom the desire to relieve distress assumes the form of a master passion; and if faith be due to tradition, he indulged it with a disdain, alternately ludicrous and sublime, of the good advice which the eccentric have to undergo from the judicious. Conscious of no aims but such as may invite the scrutiny of God and man, he pursued them after his own fearless fashion, yielding to every honest impulse, relishing a frolic when it fell in his way, choosing his associates in scorn of mere worldly precepts, and worshipping with any fellow Christian whose heart beat in unison with his own, however inharmonious might be some of the Articles of their respective creeds.”

Mr. Thornton was an Episcopalian, and an intimate friend of the Rev. John Newton, of St. Mary Woolnoth. His benevolence was as unsectarian as his general habits, and ‘* he stood ready,” said Mr. Cecil, “to assist a beneficent design in every party, but would be the creature of none.” Hence, in conjunction with Mr. Newton, and some excellent men among the Dissenters, he was mainly instrumental in establishing, and for awhile supporting, a Dissenting Academy at Newport Pagnell, which was placed under the tuition of the Rev. William Bull, whose son the Rev. T. P. Bull, and grandson the Rev. Josiah Bull, continued till its recent extinction to conduct its studies; and who exhibited the very rare occurrence of men of three generations being pastors of the same church, and tutors in the same college. Mr. Thornton, as intimated above, extended his patronage and pecuniary assistance to the institution at Marlborough, under the direction of the Rev. Cornelius Winter, and thus was brought into connexion with Mr. Jay, towards whose support he contributed while passing through his academic course.

Mr. Thornton spent myriads of pounds in the purchase, of livings for

man’s mouth, and for years to come we dare not shut it, while there are so many immediate and pressing calls for exertion.^’ But for this I have reason to believe Mr. Winter would have had then no objection to the proposal. As it was not made to myself, I was neither required to consent nor refuse; though, had I been, the latter I am persuaded would have been the result. My views upon some subjects have always been firm, though moderate, and allowing me to distinguish between preference and exclusion, and leaving every one to follow his own conviction.*

Evangelical preachers; in the erection and enlargement of places of worship, both in the Church of England and among Dissenters; in sending out Bibles and religious books by his ships to various parts of the world; and in numerous other ways. Nor was his beneficence confined exclusively to religious objects. “Mr. Newton,” says Mr. Bull, in a letter I lately received from him, “told my father, that while he (Mr. N.) was at Olney, he had received .from Mr. Thornton more than £2000 for the poor of that place. He not only,” continues Mr. Bull,” gave largely, but he gave wisely. He kept a regular account (not for ostentation or the gratification of vanity, but for method) of every pound he gave, in a large ledger which he once showed me. I was then a boy, and I remarked on every page was an appropriate text. With him, his givings were made a matter of business, as Cowper says in an Elegy he wrote upon him —

“Thou hadst an industry in doing good.
Restless as his who toils and sweats for food.”

Such was the man to whom Mr. Jay stood indebted in part for his support during the term of his education. The good Churchman, and the eminent Nonconformist, have met in that world where these designations have no place; and does the one regret that he lifted his hand above the ecclesiastical barriers to extend his beneficence to him that stood on the other side of it? Or does that other blush to recollect that he stood indebted to the Churchman for his love and liberality? — Such mention as this is due to Mr. Thornton in the present volume.

* Referring to this subject many years after in a letter, he says, —” Our preaching is too commonly of a cast I am sorry to say not the most calculated to do good. The mathematics and classics are good in their places; but unless men have something else, they will never make ministers

One of the advantages of a smaller academy like that at Marlborough was its assuming a kind of domestic character, and associating us more with the tutor himself. A freer and more intimate access to the tutor is sadly wanting in some, yea, I fear, in all our public institutions. It is not enough for the student to hear his tutor regularly and formally lecture. There are things of great importance, especially to his experience, and conduct, and character, some of which are too delicate, and many of which are too minute, to be here brought forward. These can only be supplied properly by personal intercourse and converse. In this respect (oh that I had profited more by it!) I had a peculiar privilege; for, as I was so young, Mr. Winter felt a more parental relation towards me; and, besides the freedom we all had in the family, he never walked out in the morning or evening but I was always by his side. I frequently also accompanied him when he took an excursion for a few days from home. With what gratitude do I look back to these hours, and thank God for my distinguished intimacy with such a celestial spirit, and how often has it led me -to exclaim —

Has filled his urn where those pure waters rise,
And once more mingles with us meaner things,
‘Tis even as if an angel shook his wings:
Immortal fragrance fills the circuit wide,
That tells us whence his treasures are supplied.”

I am, &c.

[As an appendix to this letter, we should have been happy to supply notices of some of those who were in the Marlborough

of the New Testament. How thankful I am that I did not when a student (as some of my Episcopalian supporters recommended) leave Mr. Winter’s to go to Oxford, where I must have been five or six years before I could be ordained; when during that time I was preaching the gospel to thousands, and saving souls.” Bath, July 14, 1846.

Academy along with Mr. Jay. But Lis allusions to them are neither clear nor numerous. We are not informed how many students, at a time were under Mr. Winter’s care. Several of those who were there during Mr. Jay’s term, or afterwards, became ministers of great excellence; and one at least of the number attained a degree of popularity and usefulness only inferior to that of Mr. Jay. We refer to the late excellent Mr. Griffin, of Portsea, of whom a separate memoir was published some years since. The following List of Students in Mr. Winter’s academy is most probably incomplete; but it is the best we can furnish: —

.ev.

W.

Jay...

. Bath.

Mr

Surman.

.. Chesham, Bucks.

Yockney,

.. Staines, Middlesex.
if

Wood..

.. Died while a Student

fp
Hogg..

. Entered the Church.

tf
Clitf..

. Frome.

Sloper

.. Plymouth.

Gelding.

.. Fulwood.

J>

Griffin..

. Portsea.
fi

Underbill
„

Richardson

.. Frampton.

Daniel

.. Kings wood.

Lane..

.. Wells.