On this page

• Text (2)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    tiling very different from the vulgar notions of imputed righteousness and vicarious atonement . This at least is certain , that during the intercourses of life and in the expectation of death he appeared to experience nothing of that vacillation between hope and fear , rapture and despondency , by which Orthodoxy can hardly fail to perplex her

    consistent votaraes . Whatever were the theological sentiments of Mr . Thomas Wakefield , his practical Christianity was apparent to all who had the happiness of his acquaintance . He was indeed an eminent follower of him " who went about

    doinggood . In the eulogium to which we have already referred , and which we understand to have been written by a Clergyman , one of his intimate friends , his character is thus ably and justly delineated .

    With gentle and conciliating manners he united a manly and uJideviating sincerity . Universal benevolence was not only the leading character of his moral system , but the confirmed habit of his life : it was rooted and entwined

    in every fibre of his heart . His abundant bounties were neither ostentatiously displayed , nor studiously concealed : and supported by means , moderate in themselves , but augmented by a prudent economy in his" personal expenditure , they were carried to an extent , which , eren in opulence , has been rarely surpassed .

    When consulted by his parishioners , whether in cases of temporal or spiritual perplexity , he never failed to approve himself a ready , able , and judicious adviser : and in the discharge of this critical office he wa ^ equally reluctant to wound the feelings of the meanest , or to flatter the errors of the highest .

    In the fulfilment of his public duty his impressive ' and nervous admonitions vvcr * 2 delivered with those clear indications of piety and zeal , with that earnest but simple and unaffected eloquence which they only v / ho feel what they utter can uniformly command . Bur : his invitations to virtue , and his reproof of

    vice , derived weight and authority from a still higher source . From the consciousness of his audience that he pmcf : < - ' d what h-e taught , and that , his docf . r ?; ics were but the transcript , of his life , his precepts acquired a powtr of persuasion which , divested of that aid , *» D strength of language , no force of elocution call ever hope to attain ,

    Untitled Article

    Though retired and studious in his private life he shrunk not from the call of any social duty . As a friend his cordiality knew no limits , his confidence no reserve , and it was almost peculiar to him that without profession , without adulation , without officiousness , his manner both expressed and excited the utmost warmth of attachment . His serious

    discourse was not less distinguished by the force of his remarks , than his moments of relaxation by a playful simplicity ; yet neither did the former leave room for reprehension nor the latter for contempt . To the merit of others he was ever ready to bear the most candid and ample testimony : and

    superior to all sense of jealousy , whereever he imagined that he had discovered talents which might be useful to society , he was anxious to encourage them and bring them to light . From the same deep-rooted and extended philanthropy ,

    which prompted him to cultivate with unremitting assiduity , the happiness of all within his immediate influence , may be deduced his frequent and fervent wishes for the peace , freedom , and prosperity of the world . "

    That the loss of such a person should be lamented in the neighbourhood where he had so long resided may be easily imagined . To the credit of his rich and noble parishioners , their fashionable parties and public amusements were suspended from , the day of his death till after his funeral , which was

    followed by a numerous train of every rank . The needy regretted their benefactor . 1 The opulent could not fail to revere the memory of a . man -who , with a dignified indifference to their pleasures and pursuits , had passed his life amidst the great and the gay ,

    maintaining a conduct equally remote from the inattentions of , a cynical nioroseneis and the mean compliances of . a timeserving flattery . Contemplating such a character we are disposed to vary the sentiment with which Johnson concludes the Jife of Watts . We wish to

    " imitate" Mr . T . Wakefield « In all but " hi- ? onformity—to copy his benevolence , " to man , and his reverence to God . ** Rev . THOMAS TOWLE . B . D . a

    mini t ^ r among the Independents , died at his house , Cripplegnte , JLondoxi ; Dec . 2 , aged ? jZ years . He was born in the city of London , and educated for the ministry under Dr . Marry att Posses - ing good natural abilities , he made con ~

    Untitled Article

    Ohituctry . 665

    Untitled Article

    vo v- h 4 1 ,

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1806, page 665, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1731/page/49/