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    self-righteous Tjoarstlngs and the disgusting relations of the process of sudden impressions and reveries called experiences , butappeared in the more permanent form of acts of superabundant labour , and instances of self-denial in which he was hardJy exceeded bj | the most eminent devotees whether

    Protestant or Roman Catholic . For several years , he wholly abstained from animal food . For nearly forty years he had been in the habit of rising every morning at four o ' clock . Preaching every day once or twice , and

    frequently thrice and even oftener , and travelling , during that period on a greater number of days by far than he omitted it , sometimes on horse-hack , and at other tinges on foot , in all roads and weather ,, from tivetity to . seventy miles .

    After his laborious exercise in the day he would frequently sleep at night , having ; his clothes wet with rain , on the floor . Or with the accommodation of a bed to repose in during the night , would put on his clothes in the morning without drying them . To this last

    circumstance the physician attributes , as its immediate cause , the illness which terminated in the deprivation of his mental sanity * He was the generous and faithful friend of the poor , the oppressed and neglected . Bold in pleading their cause and unwearied in his efforts

    to procure them relief . He considered himself , as far as his scanty means allowed , their debtor , and was an importunate , and commonly successful advocate for them with others . No man was more fully acquainted

    with the genuine traits ia the character of the famed apostle of the Methodist 5 . He knew how to appreciate the excellences which he bad the opportunity of daily witnessing , nor was he partially blind to certain charaiteihtical and some

    Occasional defectj . With fearless integri ty he pointed them out to the man whom he esteemed his father in the fospel , and on many occasions acted as is Mentor by whom he was restrained 'firom taking injudicious and improper "measures . He was eminent for a

    commendable simplicity a , nd directness of character ; clear as amber you saw the Tr ^ an as be was . In some of his actions he nnijght be weak , precipitate arid obstinate , But in none fawning , deceitful and Iryppcritical .

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    The qualities of integrity atid impsf «» tiality were so strongly prominent in him that he gained on their accourit the respect and veneration of the whole body of the Methodists both preachersand people . When differences have arisen amongst them to a great height , and it became absolutely necessary , in order to reconcile them that some

    person of acknowledged probity and undeviatinpj impartiality should be employed as an umpire , Mr , Bradford has been selected by common consent . For thirty-she years , the writer of this article knew him ; though he did not see him nor have any immediate communication with him for fourteen or fifteen

    years , yet he had his eye on the course of his life , and found that he invariably pursued the same ends by the same paeans . He thinks it therefore a debt of justlccy due to his memory to say , that he has never known a man , of the reality

    of whose p iety to God , of his justice and benevolence to men , and of his possession , in no low degree ,, of all the virtues which adorn the Christian , he had a more decided and firm conviction . * Ttie report of the circumstances of his death * spread over the mind of the writer a cloud of darkness and horror .

    Why , he said to himself , did the Divine Being permit his exit from the world in a mode which apparently could neither be advantageous to himself , nor to the cause of religion . He ceased indeed to be a moral agent , and his probationary state ended the moment in which the

    paralytic stroke deprived him of his recolJective powers ; yet , an opportunity was given by his not 4 < dying the tfeatb of all tncnf for the profane and thoughtless to " speak things which they ought not . " Entire acquiescence however

    inevery providential event becomes us » The circumstances of his death , g loomy and disastrous , no dtfubt , were under the direction of infinite wisdom and goodness : and a kind and degree of good may result from them of which we are not aware . If his brethren ' .

    the Methodists , would learn from them to lay more stress on tht manner in which a man lives , and less" on the manner in which be dies , they would be taught a » exceedingly useful and seasonable lesson . Hia funeral sermon was preached oj the famed Mr , Samuel BradUurn , »

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    396 Obituarp .

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    J&ev . Joseph Bradford * 1 - ¦

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1808, page 396, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2394/page/44/