SECTION II. Ministers of the Gospel. 1. RISDON DARRACOTT. "The chamber where the Christian meets his fate, Of virtuous life, quite on the verge of heaven; To vice confusion, and to virtue peace.”—Young. THIS eminent servant of Christ was born in Dorsetshire, February, 1717; and in the same month his mother departed to rest with her Lord. Some of her ancestors had counted all things loss for the sake of Christ; and had been voluntary exiles to this country, where freedom of conscience in things sacred might be enjoyed. The seeds of piety were early sown in the heart of his orphan son by an affectionate father, who was himself a minister of the Gospel. He was placed under the tuition of Doddridge, at Northampton, and by him he was tenderly beloved. Here his religious character became established, and the piety of his heart and life assumed no ordinary cast. Wellington, in Somersetshire, was the field of his ministerial labours. In view of his zeal, eloquence, and success, Mr. Whitefield said. of him, that "he might justly be styled the star in the west;" and a profane person exclaimed once as he passed by, "There goes a man who serves God as if the devil were in him." Immense audiences hung upon his ministry, and multitudes were brought to Christ. In the adjacent villages, he opened houses of worship and preached weekly to the people. In this work he spared no pains, and shrunk from no labour. Towards the close of the year 1758, Mr. Darracott began to apprehend the approach of death. "I believe," said he, "that I am near my end-my work is done, and I am going home to my rest." On the evening of the same day he composed the following meditation, and sent it to a friend : "Is this the voice of my dear Lord? Surely I come quickly.' Amen, says my willing, joyful soul; even so, come, Lord Jesus! Come, for I long to have done with this poor, low life; to have done with its burdens, its sorrows, and its snares. Come, for I grow weary of this painful distance, and long to be at home; long to be with thee, where thou art, that I may behold thy glory. "Come then, blessed Jesus, as soon as thou pleasest, and burst asunder these bonds of clay, which hold me from thee; break down these separating walls, which hinder me from thine embrace. Death is no more my dread, but rather the object of my desire. I welcome the stroke, which will prove so friendly to me; which will knock off my fetters, throw open my prison doors, and set my soul at liberty; which will free me (transporting thought!) from all those remainders of indwelling sin, under which I have long groaned in this tabernacle, and with which I have been maintaining a constant and painful conflict-but which all my weeping and praying, all my attending Divine ordinances, could never entirely cure me of; yea, will perfectly and forever free me from all my complaints, give me the answer of all my prayers, and put me at once in the eternal possession of my warmest wishes and hopes-even the sweet, beatifying presence of thee, O blessed Jesus, whom having not seen, I love, and in whom, though now I see thee not, yet believing, I rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. This world has now no more charms to attract my heart, or make me wish a moment's longer stay. I have no engagements to delay my farewell. Nothing to detain me now. My soul is on the wing. Joyfully do I quit mortality, and here cheerfully take my leave of all I ever held dear below. "Farewell, my dear Christian friends! I have taken sweet counsel with you in the way; but I leave you for sweeter, better converse above. You will soon follow me, and then our delightful communion shall be uninterrupted, as well as perfect, and our society be broken up no more forever. Farewell, in particular, my dearest How has our friendship ripened almost to the maturity of heaven! How tenderly and closely are our hearts knit to one another! Nor shall the sweet union be dissolved by death. Being one in Christ, we shall be one forever. With what eternal thankfulness shall we remember that word, Christ is all in all!' He was so then indeed, and he will ever be so. Mourn not that I go to him first. 'Tis but a little while, and you will come after. O, with what joy, think you, shall I welcome your arrival on the heavenly shore, and conduct you to him whom our souls so dearly love? What though we meet no more at Wellington, we shall, we assuredly shall, embrace one another in heaven, never to part more. Till then, adieu! and now I leave you with the warmest wishes of all felicity to attend you, and the most grateful overflowings of heart for all the kindest tokens of the most endearing friendship I ever received from you. "Farewell, thou my dearest wife; my most affectionate, delightful companion in heaven's road, whom God in the greatest mercy gave me, and has thus to the end of my race graciously continued to me! For all thy care, thy love, thy prayers, I bless my God and thank thee in these departing moments. But, dear as thou art, (and dearest of all that is mortal I hold thee,) I now find it easy to part from thee, to go to that Jesus thine and mine, who is infinitely more dear to me. With him I cheerfully leave thee, nor doubt his care of thee, who has loved thee, and given himself for thee. 'Tis but a short separation we shall have; our spirits will soon reunite, and then never, never know separation more. For as we have been companions in the patience and tribulation of our Lord's kingdom, we shall assuredly be so in his glory. "Farewell, my dear children! I leave you; but God has bound himself by a most inviolable promise, to take care of you. Only choose him for your own God, who has been your father's God, and then, though I leave you exposed in the waves of a dangerous and wicked world, Providence, eternal and almighty Providence, has undertaken to pilot and preserve you. With comfortable hope, therefore, I bid you my last adieu; pleading the faithful and true promise; saying, as the patriarch, I die,' my dear children, but God will be with you;' praying in humble faith, that your souls, with those of your parents, may be bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord your God. "Farewell, ye my dear people, to whom I have been preaching the everlasting Gospel-that Gospel which is now all my hope and all my joy! Many, very many of you are my present rejoicing, and will be my eternal crown of glory. And now I am leaving you, I bless God for all the success he has been graciously pleased to give my poor labours among you; for all the comfortable seasons of grace I have enjoyed with you. Adieu, my dear friends! I part with you this day at the sacred table of our blessed Lord, in the confidence and hope, that though I shall drink no more with you this fruit of the vine, I shall drink it new with you in the kingdom of our heavenly Father. Only, my brethren, my dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. But for the rest of you, I mourn to think in what a miserable condition I am leaving you; and though you will no more hear my voice, and have often, alas! heard it to no purpose, this once hear and regard my dying charge— that you do not continue in a Christless and unconverted state, nor meet me in that state at the day of judgment. "And now, farewell, praying and preaching, my most delightful work! Farewell, ye Sabbaths and sacraments, and all Divine ordinances! I have now done with you all, and you have done all that was to be done As the manna, and the rock, in the wilderness, you have supplied me with sweet refreshments by the way; and now I am leaving you, I bless my God for all the comfort and edification I have received by your means as the appointed channel of Divine communications. But now I have no more need of you. I am going to the God of ordinances; to that fountain of living waters, which has filled these pools below; and instead of sipping at the streams, I shall now be forever satisfied from the fountain-head. "Farewell, now, my poor body! Thou shalt be no more a clog to my active spirit-no more hinder me in the service of God, no more ensnare my soul, and pollute it with sin. And now an everlasting farewell to all sins and sorrows, all doubts and fears, conflicts and temptations! Farewell to earth and all terrestrial scenes! Ye are now no more! An infinitely brighter prospect opens to me!" "See the guardian angels nigh Jesus calls with him to dwell." |