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MEMOIR

OF THE

REV. JOHN TOWNSEND.

CHAP. I.

Mr. Townsend's birth, education, and conversion.

THE Objects of Biography, in general, are instruction and example; but religious Biography has another and a higher aim, namely, to "magnify the grace of God" in the subject of the narration: it is to concur in the great design of JEHOVAH himself, who said concerning Israel, "This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise." Men of the world, in writing their own memoirs, have uniformly an eye to the advancement and display of their character and talents; and even when they admit their failings and indiscretions, (as they call them,) it is only with a view to set off their supposed virtues. Not so Mr. Townsend; the facts and circumstances

* Isa. xliii. 21.

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which he records, and especially his reflections on them, which are numerous, have a direct tendency to self-abasement, and at the same time to glorify God by the acknowledgment of his providence and grace. His language uniformly corresponded with that of the Psalmist, "Not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake.”*

Such being the object of the original papers before us, in preparing this narrative for the religious public, our duty will be to pursue the same design; and to show how much persons, neither elevated in rank, nor endowed with extraordinary genius, may yet effect, by God's assistance, for the advancement of his honour, and the benefit of their fellow creatures.

Mr. John Townsend was born March 24, 1757, in the parish of Whitechapel, and baptized by the curate of that church. He had not, indeed, to boast of a noble or rich ancestry, but his father had received his education from a respectable clergyman in Yorkshire, under whom he attained a considerable acquaintance with the Latin tongue. In early life he settled in London, in a family where the late Mr. Whitfield, of pious memory, used to visit, and was so much charmed with his vivacity, and the interesting nature of his conversation, that he was led to hear him preach; first at Allhallow's church, and afterwards at the Tabernacle, near Moorfields, of which congregation he became eventually a stated member. This, however,

* Psal. cxv. 1.

so degraded him in the estimation of his father's family, that he was menaced with loss of station and property. His god-mother, a rich aunt, promised to make him her sole heir, if he would forsake that enthusiast;" a whole night was passed in entreaties and discussions, but conscience or principle prevailed over human pride and policy. The treasures of Egypt were renounced, the humble path of poverty chosen, and things eternal estimated more highly than things temporal.

On this circumstance Mr. Townsend himself remarks, "It is a greater mercy to be the child of providence than the child of fortune. How many have I seen left by their parents in affluence, but it made to itself wings and flew away.' I am perhaps placed in easier circumstances than some of those who inherited the property referred to. It is an honour to descend from those who suffer for righteousness sake."

"I owe much (says our deceased friend) to the love and care of an affectionate mother, not only for her regard to my personal safety, but also for her instruction and admonitions. Well do I remember standing at her knees to repeat Dr. Watts's hymns, and kneeling to say my prayers, which was often very irksome to me, and which I therefore tried to evade by the most frivolous excuses. As a proof of her regard to my religious interests, I recollect that on one occasion, when I had committed a great fault, and then told a falsehood to conceal it, (having the strongest pos

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sible conviction of my guilt,) she kept me fasting in my chamber till I confessed my sin." to some may appear as a trivial circumstance; but as Mr. T. doubtless recorded it by way of admonition to his own family in the first instance, so we retain the fact as an admonition to parents in general, never to trifle with the truth, nor to pass over a falsehood, as a slight and venial fault: nothing, indeed, was more conspicuous or admirable in Mr. Townsend's character, than his sacred regard to truth in all his conversation.

It is a trite remark, the truth of which is often verified, that a particular providence attends on children. The subject of this memoir experienced much of that superintending care; some years afterwards, referring to recovery from a malignant disease, he writes, " God has protracted my journey in the wilderness to see new mercies, and to experience new deliverances, both in providence and grace."

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Mr. Townsend received the first rudiments of his education, as most of the first scholars in the world have done, from "a good old lady, for whom he always entertained a strong recollection of esteem;" in which he may put many of us to the blush, who generally undervalue the pains and patience required to instil into young minds that A, B, C, which is the foundation of all literature. From this tuition he was put successively to two boys' schools, where he made but little progress; and his mother, anxious that he might have a good education, and finding the expense likely to be in

convenient, by means of one of his father's more wealthy brothers, procured him a presentation to Christ's Hospital. This was in the year 1774.

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During the five years of his continuance in this excellent school, Mr. T., who suffered no event to pass unobserved, records many juvenile circumstances, which it might be tedious to our readers to detail; but the following are judged worth preserving. The first is much in honour of the establishment just named. "Its masters," he remarks," possessed first-rate talents: the discipline of the school (so far as discipline in large schools can be maintained) was good. The steward, Mr. Perry, was a rigid and vigilant disciplinarian, and the slightest deviation from order and morals was reproved and punished; and no age or connexion could save the delinquents. I had a proof of this in my own experience. Playing in the cloisters one day, I profaned the name of God, and having been overheard by a governor, he reproved me for the sin. I felt conviction and shame, but hoped nothing further would be said about it." His fault, however, was reported to the steward, and he was placed at the stone* with another juvenile offender. Next morning, before his punishment was decided, Mr. Bowyer, the grammar-master, with whom he appears to have been rather a favourite, inquired as to his offence, and finding him penitent, and determined not to

*The stone stands nearly in the centre of the dining-hall, at which all who were guilty of offences stood during the time the boys were at dinner, preparatory to their being punished on some future day.

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