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THE 
 
 Star of tJie West; 
 
 BEING 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE 
 
 * OP 
 
 RI8DON DARRACOTT, 
 
 MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL, 
 
 AT WELLIJYGTOJV, SOMERSET, 
 
 WITH 
 EXTRACTS FROM HIS CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 z^ — 
 
 BY JAMES BENNETT. 
 
 FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. 
 
 BROOKFIELD, MASS. 
 
 E. AND G. MERRIAM, PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS. 
 
 1S29. 
 
PJREFACE. 
 
 It was not without considerable hesita- 
 tion, that the Author ventured to present 
 these Memoirs to the public eye. He 
 had, indeed, often perused the documents 
 with the most desirable emotions, and 
 wished them introduced to more general 
 notice ; but he always anticipated the 
 question, why obtrude upon the public, 
 the Memoirs of a man who has slumbered 
 among the dead more than half a century? 
 
 Those who have recently entered into 
 their rest, still live in the remembrance of 
 many surviving fellow-labourers ; and it is 
 in the breasts of those, who already know 
 something of a man, that we expect to 
 find a curiosity to know more. But, the 
 contemporaries of Risdon Darracott, who 
 would have caught eagerly at his Memoirs, 
 and promoted their circulation among 
 friends, have long since gone to join him, 
 
IV 
 
 where the pages of biography are neither 
 read nor needed. And now that another 
 generation has risen up who knew him 
 not, what hope can be indulged of attract- 
 ing any considerable attention to the mem- 
 ory of one, so long gone by in the proces- 
 sion of ages, as to have left scarcely any 
 that can recal his image ? 
 
 For, it is not pretended that the subject 
 of these Memoirs was a Luther or Calvin 
 in the church, confined to no cUme, and 
 claimed by every age. The distinguished 
 men, who have created a new sera in reli- 
 gion, may be recalled to notice at any time, 
 and can always justify the interest w^hich 
 they never fail to excite. But the history 
 of those who filled a narrower circle during 
 life, must be recorded immediately after 
 death, or the world will refuse to listen to 
 the instruction which they may be able to 
 afford. 
 
 Sometimes, indeed, the powers of the 
 biographer may supply the deficiencies of 
 his theme, and attract attention to the pic- 
 ture, whose original would be despised. 
 As in the life of Savage, we value only 
 the pen of Johnson. But though the bi- 
 ographer of Darracott, pretends to no such 
 powers, while he questions the propriety 
 of extorting attentions to which the subject 
 has no just claims, he has been induced by 
 
the force of various considerations, to print 
 the following Memoirs. 
 
 The papers from which the volume is 
 compiled, have long been preserved in the 
 family of the deceased, as precious relics. 
 Frequentl}^ presented to the eye of friend- 
 ship, they have furnished the employment 
 of many interesting hours, and proved the 
 source of the most sacred pleasures. It 
 was owned by all, that they furnish such a 
 picture of a heart devoted to the divine glo- 
 ry, a life consumed in most successful evan- 
 gelical labours, and a death pre-eminently 
 distinguished by holy triumphs, that it was 
 scarcely less than a duty to draw them from 
 obscurity, and prevent their passing unim- 
 proved into oblivion. 
 
 Since Christians feel, to their cost, how 
 much they are affected by the spirit and 
 conduct of the living world around them ; 
 should we not endeavour to furnish an anti- 
 dote to the poison, by calling up even those 
 who have been long dead, that we may live 
 in the circle of those who instruct by their 
 superior wisdom, inspire esteem for their 
 character, and stimulate to imitation of their 
 conduct ? Whenever the God of all grace 
 indulges the world with distinguished spe- 
 cimens of religion, we should study to per- 
 petuate their usefulness beyond the narrow 
 limifs of their mortal race. And though it 
 is to be regretted, that Risdon Darracott 
 1* 
 
VI 
 
 had not found a biographer among his con- 
 temporaries, who would have enjoyed su- 
 perior opportunities of extending and pro- 
 longing his influence ; it may be hoped, as 
 truth and hoHness are immutable, that ex- 
 cellencies such as are here exhibited, will 
 still find their sympathies in the hearts of 
 Christians, and even now rouse to sacred 
 emulation. For it is presumed, that few 
 pious persons will rise from the perusal of 
 these Memoirs, without feeling their humil- 
 ity increased by the consciousness of infe- 
 riority, or their zeal inflamed by the sight of 
 superior ardour. 
 
 If the work was to be attempted, the 
 connexion of the Author with the family 
 of the deceased, seemed to impose on him 
 the duty ; as, by marrying the granddaugh- 
 ter of Mr. Darracott, he has come into pos- 
 session of the documents from which the 
 volume is compiled. That he has yielded 
 to the force of the considerations which in- 
 duced the attempt, he is forbidden to re- 
 gret ; whatever reception these Memoirs 
 may obtain from the public. For it has 
 proved a privilege to hold converse with 
 the pious dead. 
 
 Should the perusal of this volume afford 
 to each reader but a moiety of the edifica- 
 tion and delight they have afforded to the 
 compiler, they will prove one of the most 
 valuable opportunities of usefulness with 
 
Vll 
 
 which he has been hidulged. Of this he 
 would not despair. For though some part 
 of the happy impressions produced, may 
 have arisen from the sight of manuscripts, 
 so tinged with age as to recal the memory 
 of those who have been long at rest, or 
 written with a tremulous hand on the eve of 
 a triumphant death ; the principal source of 
 emotions which rendered the compilation 
 of the volume a devotional exercise, w^as 
 the divine sentiments, the holy tempers, the 
 heavenly anticipations, expressed by Mr. 
 Darracott, or his friends. May these be 
 copied into the reader's breast ! 
 
 If, in addition to the reasons why the 
 Author has written, it be expected that a 
 preface will contain the summary of what 
 the reader may expect to find, this may be 
 told in one word — religion. Risdon Dar- 
 racott w^as not a man of the w orld, whose 
 Memoirs will increase our acquaintance 
 with the history of his country or age : he 
 passed through this world as a pilgrim to 
 a better, and paid no more attention to the 
 affairs of earth than was demanded by his 
 allegiance to heaven. But as religion has 
 a world of its own, he was, in the noblest 
 sense, a citizen of the world. 
 
 Tn a contracted sphere, he possessed an 
 enlarged heart, which took a Uvely interest 
 in the concerns of the Redeemer's king- 
 dom, w^herever it was estabhshed, and in- 
 
Vlll 
 
 troduced him to acquaintance and corres- 
 pondence with those whose praise is in all 
 the churches. Doddridge, Whitefield, Her- 
 vey, the late Countess Dowager of Hunt- 
 ingdon, Dr. Gillies of Glasgow, Mr. Walk- 
 er of Truro, and Joseph Williams of Kid- 
 derminster, persons dear to the memory of 
 catholic Christians, were the friends of his 
 bosom ; though several of them he never 
 saw, till he met them among disembodied 
 spirits. Those eminent persons have often 
 been exhibited in their own Memoirs, and 
 they were worthy to form distinct pictures ; 
 but here, we may still further increase our 
 acquaintance with them, by viewing them 
 in the group of their coadjutors in that no- 
 ble work to which they consecrated their 
 days. 
 
 But, from the different communions to 
 which the correspondents of Darracott be- 
 longed, it will be manifest that the zeal of 
 the sectarian, who can see no religion out 
 of his own pale, will not be gratified with 
 this Memoir. Darracott maintained, in- 
 deed, with the firmness of a superior mind, 
 that form of Christianity which appeared to 
 him most agreeable to its Great Author ; 
 but he v/as too good-tempered for a bigot, 
 and too devotional to be engrossed by any 
 but the vital principles of religion. 
 
 Associations of Christians which require 
 a sacrifice of their distinguishing principles, 
 
IX 
 
 are equally disgraceful to all the .parties 
 concerned ; but co-operation among diffe- 
 rent communions on general principles, to 
 promote the grand objects in which they 
 are all agreed, has peculiar charms. Such 
 associations form the honourable distinction 
 of the present age. This volume, howev- 
 er, exhibits the operation of the same spir- 
 it, though upon a smaller scale. We are 
 but perfecting what Darracott and his con- 
 temporaries began. As other men have 
 laboured, and we have entered into their 
 labours ; may it be ours to improve to the 
 utmost, the advantages we derive from 
 their catholic zeal ! 
 
 There are occasions on which we are 
 peculiarly called to sacrifice to truth, and 
 others on which we should pay our vows to 
 charity. The two are indeed harmonious, 
 like the inhabitants of the heaven from 
 which they descend. For " charity rejoic- 
 eth in the truth." But while it is often our 
 sacred duty to contend earnestly for the 
 best form of godliness, it is equally incum- 
 bent on all Christians, to seize every oppor- 
 tunity for displaying the power of it unin- 
 cumbered with the distinctions which arise 
 from the weaknesses of men. That the 
 Memoirs of Hisdon Darracott should exhi- 
 bit Christianity in this pure uncoloured 
 light, will appear unquestionable to every 
 reader of discernment. This conviction in 
 
the mind of the writer, has induced him to 
 pass over one minor occurrence, in which, 
 though Mr. Darracott would have appeared 
 to advantage, his opponents would have 
 been placed in a shade that would displease 
 those who now adopt their views, and 
 whom it was the author's wish not to irritate 
 but to edify. 
 
 There are those who expect to find the 
 records of genius or literature, in the me- 
 moirs of an eminent minister of religion ; 
 but they are here apprized, that Kisdon 
 Darracott never aspired to rank among the 
 literati of his age. His papers furnish no 
 fragments of mental project, no correspon- 
 dence with the candidates for literary fame. 
 To express, in the simplest language, the 
 thoughts which claim nearer affinity to the 
 heart than the head, was all his aim ; and 
 solicitous only to fill heaven with the tri- 
 umphs of the Redeemer, he was satisfied 
 that his own record was on high. 
 
 This, however, will but render his Me- 
 moirs more generally useful. It must be 
 the lot of by far the greater number of 
 ministers, to imitate those Apostles, who 
 consumed their Uves in preaching, and left 
 no written instrudions to the church. And 
 he who should here learn to secure an apos- 
 tle's reward, may cheerfully resign an au- 
 thor's fame. 
 
 The second edition of these Memoirs^ 
 
XI 
 
 which has been unexpectedly demanded, 
 is now presented to the public, with grate- 
 ful acknowledijments to the Author of all 
 Good, for the improvement and delight 
 which many have declared themselves to 
 have derived from the work. Thus en- 
 couraged, the Author has determined to en- 
 large the biography so far, as to fill the vol- 
 ume without the addition of Mr Darra- 
 cott's Scripture Marks of Salvation, 
 which accompanied the first edition of 
 the Memoirs. Those Marks, however, 
 with the Editor's JNotes, being equally 
 demanded, are reprinted m a form that 
 will admit of their being bound up with 
 the Life, should any one wish to preserve 
 them in one volume. 
 
 The enlargement of the present edition 
 has arisen partly from the insertion of ad- 
 ditional information concerning Mr. Dar- 
 racott and his friends, and partly also from 
 the expansion deemed necessary to place 
 some circumstances, previously glanced at, 
 in a more conspicuous and useful point of 
 light. 
 
 The correspondence between Mr. Dar- 
 racott and his friends, which might have 
 been swelled to a far larger extent, was in 
 the former edition much contracted, in or- 
 der to keep the volume within the size and 
 I)rice most calculated to promote its circu- 
 ation. 
 
xu 
 
 But, in deference to the judgments of 
 some valued friends, who had expressed 
 much pleasure in that part of the work, it 
 is now extended by the addition of several 
 letters, and by the insertion of paragraphs 
 of others, formerly suppressed for want of 
 room. In its present form, the work is de- 
 voted with reiterated vows to the service 
 of Him, who has already deigned to hon- 
 our it with His smiles. 
 
MEMOIRS, &C. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 MR. DARRACOTt's ANCESTRY AND BIRTH. 
 
 For Christians to sigh after the honours of 
 heraldry is not ambition, but meanness ; since 
 they can claim more than noble or regal descent, 
 being born not of blood, but of God. As, how- 
 ever, the eternal King, the fountain of honour, 
 extends his favour to the seed of those who 
 serve him, calling Israel a people near to him, 
 and assigning this reason, " ye are the seed of 
 Abraham, my friend f it would be ingratitude 
 and impiety to throw away honours so sacred, 
 conferred by such a hand. Nor can a Christian 
 look to the general assembly of the spirits of 
 just men made perfect, and behold there a long 
 line of ancestors who have served God with dis- 
 2 
 
14 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 tinguished devotion, without feeling himself ex- 
 alted by the relation, stimulated by their exam- 
 ple, and borne on their wings to heaven. 
 
 It would, therefore, be injustice to the memory 
 of Pi-isdon Darracott, and an injury to the iii- 
 terests of religion, not to claim for him the 
 honours of which an apostle reminded Timothy, 
 " that his mother and grandmother were holy 
 women, in whom dwelt the unfeigned faith of 
 God's elect." The subject of the following pages 
 might, indeed, trace his pious ancestry still far- 
 ther back ; for his great grandfather by the 
 mother's side was a confessor in the cause of 
 religion, during the reign of Charles the first. 
 Abhorring the ceremonies introduced by Arch- 
 bishop Laud into the establishment of his native 
 country, he joined with those who ventured 
 across the Atlantic, to bury themselves in the 
 woods of America. " The sun," said these 
 voluntary exiles for religion's sake, " shines as 
 pleasantly on America as on Britain ; the same 
 providence that has guarded us here watches 
 over that country ; and why should we hesitate 
 to adopt as our parent a country which would 
 afford us liberty of religion, when our own has 
 proved to us a stepmother ?" It required, how- 
 ever, all the force of principle, expressed in this 
 sentence with the eloquence of truth and feeling, 
 to rouse the puritans to such a measure. For 
 the improvements of navigation had not yet di- 
 minished the dangers of the voyage, and the 
 
MEMOIRS OF 1)ARRAC0TT. 15 
 
 American savages, who still excite horror, were 
 at that time tenfold more formidable. 
 
 In that desert world the ancestor of Mr. 
 Darracott was blessed with a daughter ; who was 
 born in the year 1G54, and named Hannah. 
 Though it must have been painful to parents 
 who had been accustomed to the comforts of 
 England, to see a daughter growing up amidst 
 the wilds of America ; the puritans and their 
 wives preferred rearing their children to pure 
 religion, under every privation, to infecting them 
 with the contagion of superstition for the sake of 
 the elegant luxuries of life. It cannot, however, 
 be asoiertained whether these good old confessors 
 died in their voluntary exile, or returned with 
 their child to end their days in England. 
 
 Their American daughter, indeed, became a 
 resident in the native country of her ancestors ; 
 for she was married to Philip Risdon, of Bidde- 
 ford, in Devonshire, from whom the subject of 
 the following memoir derived his baptismal name. 
 The title of generous gentleman, given to Mr. 
 Risdon, in ancient documents, is an indication of 
 what may be called a man of family, raised above 
 the necessity of labour, or trade ; for the fashion 
 of giving titles to those who are supported by 
 industry was not then known. Mr. Risdon's 
 attachment to pure religion brought him ac- 
 quainted with the daughter of the refugee, who 
 had preferred a good conscience to the comforts 
 of his native land. In her, therefore, he possessed 
 a companion of kindred soul ; for she inherited 
 
16 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 her father's pious sentiments gind heroic spirit. 
 And in him the emigrant family found the fulfil- 
 ment of the Redeemer's promise : " There is no 
 man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, 
 or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or 
 lands, for my sake and the Gospel's ; but he 
 shall receive a hundred fold, now in this time, 
 houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, 
 and children, and lands." 
 
 One daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Risdon 
 in 1693, whom they named Hannah, after her 
 mother. Upon her, life opened with a more 
 auspicious dawn than upon her maternal ances- 
 tors ; for she was not only born in Britain, but 
 under the tolerant reign of William, who had 
 now terminated the religious persecutions which 
 formerly desolated our country, and drove many 
 of its inhabitants into foreign lands. Mr. Risdon 
 died too early to see his daughter settled in life, 
 leaving his mourning relict with her only child, 
 as the solace of her widowhood. 
 
 When Miss Risdon came of age in 1714, she 
 was given in marriage to Richard Darracott, at 
 that time the dissenting minister of Swanage, 
 in Dorsetshire. This was one of the numerous 
 host who have verified the poet's beautiful 
 stanza : 
 
 "Full many a gem of brightest ray serene, 
 The dark unfathora'd caves of ocean bear, 
 Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, 
 And waste its sweetness on the desert air." 
 
 The Darracotts, as well as the Risdons, were 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 17 
 
 ancient residents of Bidd^eford, in Devon. The 
 guildhall of that town is said to contain the por- 
 traits of Mr. Darracott's ancestors, who are re- 
 corded with honour among the mayors of Bid- 
 deford. From this his paternal line, the sub- 
 ject of the following pages was entitled to an 
 estate, which, however, he never possessed. 
 
 Richard Darracott, like Moses, learned in all 
 the wisdom of the world, and fit to shine in 
 courts, preferred affliction with the people of 
 God ; for, retiring to feed the flock of God, he 
 spent his days watching over a handful of plain 
 people in an obscure country town. When the 
 writer of this memoir walked through the town 
 of Swanage, almost as retired as the quarries by 
 which it is currounded ; entered the singularly 
 antiquated little meeting-house where the faith- 
 ful pastor preached ; and approached the ashlar 
 cottage on the hill where the good man lived, he 
 could not help calling to mind the happy hours 
 employed in reading the records of his wisdom 
 and piety, and saying to himself, " was this all 
 that the world could afford such a man ?" But 
 thus the friends of God have been treated in a 
 world at enmity with him. They " wandered 
 in sheep skins and goat skins, in deserts and 
 caves of the earth, being destitute, afflicted, tor- 
 mented, of whom the world was not worthy." 
 
 Neither the obscurity of the situation, how- 
 ever, nor the smallness of his charge, ever gen- 
 erated in the mind of Richard Darracott the lazy 
 arrogant conceit, that his callow thoughts were 
 2^ 
 
18 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 good enough for his audience. With great care 
 he prepared, not only for the pulpit, where he 
 might sometimes expect to address strangers 
 attracted by his talents, but also for^ those 
 private meetings of the members of the church, 
 held after the Lord's supper, from which all 
 strangers were excluded. The notes of the 
 addresses he delivered on these occasions, when 
 the pastor usually pours out the fulness of his 
 heart, without any attempt to shine, excite the 
 highest ideas of his intellectual powers, and of 
 the solicitude with which he studied on every 
 occasion to promote the edification of his flock. 
 A minister could not read them without feeling 
 reproved, or without saying, " if such were his 
 most familiar exhortations to a little company of 
 Christians in a vestry, what would have been his 
 exertions to instruct and save the multitudes 
 whom we are frequently called to address ?"■ 
 
 >* 
 
 * From a volume of these addresses now lying before him, the 
 author cannof refrain from giving a few exMacts, as a specimen of 
 the manner in which some ohscure dissenting ministers were em- 
 ployed in feeding their flocks a hundred years ago — 
 " My friends, 
 
 " Meeting together thus in private, while others are at their 
 trades, we declare that we are not of this world, but are pilgrims 
 traveUing to a better. Heaven is a Christian's proper home and 
 country. He is born from above, his conversation is in heaven, 
 his eternal habitation is there, his head and Lord there, his best 
 friends and kindred there. At such seasons as these, he meets his 
 country folks to talk about his home, his fellow-travellers to 
 animate each other in their heavenly march. We now meet our 
 Lord : for in this private place, I am reminded of the sweet 
 passage. Canticles vii. 11. where the church desires to go forth to 
 fields ^nd villages, to walk with Christ, to receive counsel, instruc- 
 tion, and comfort from him, with freedom, and without interrup- 
 tion. Those that would converse with Christ must escape from 
 the hurries of the world, to attend upon the Lord without distrac- 
 
MEMOIRS OP DARllACOTT. 19 
 
 Well might these fathers of the dissent protest 
 that they did not serve God with what cost them 
 nought, nor supply the lamps of his sanctuary 
 with unbeaten oil. They took alarm at the voice 
 that saith, " Cursed be he that doeth the work of 
 the Lord negligently." They teach us what 
 
 tion. " Isaac went out into the fields at evening to meditate." 
 Here we may meditate on the grace that hath made us to differ 
 from the rest of the world. Not in outward condition, here all 
 things come alike to all. Is David rich ? so is Nabal. If Joseph 
 is favoured of his prince, so is Haman too. Was wicked Ahab 
 killed in battle ? so was good Josiah. But with regard to our 
 better part, the inward peace of the soul, how hath our God dis- 
 tinguished us ! A good man can look every way with comfort, 
 but the sinner, if his reason were not blinded, Would always be 
 in Belshazzar's trembling fit. 
 
 "1. If they look dovmward. A Christian can take a view of 
 the grave with comfort. It is only a resting place for his flesh. 
 •Death has no sling to his spirit. It is but putting ofi' his clothes, 
 or taking a journey. A stile or two more, and I am at my father'gs 
 house, amid my treasures, friends, and relations. 'Tis but winking, 
 and I am in heaven. But if the sinner looks down, there is, first, 
 a dismal grave to receive his pampered sinful body. A mighty 
 change from former indulgences, — the bed of down changed into 
 a bed of dirt and putrefaction, and, shortly after, into a bed of 
 flames ; for when he looks lower, he sees, secondly, a dreadful 
 hell opening for him, devils gaping for him. He dares not die, he 
 cannot live. 
 
 " 2. If they look backward. The believer says, with Paul, 
 " I have fought the good fight," or with Hezekiah, *' remember 
 how I have walked before thee in truth." But ah ! the sinner 
 dares not look back at all. He would dread to have God remem- 
 ber how he has walked. For he now remembers his swarms of 
 vile thoughts, the many hard speeches which he has uttered against 
 the ways and people of God. 
 
 " 3. They look fonoard with different views. The Christian 
 with comfort and boldness to the day of judgment, the second 
 coming of Christ. He says, " come, Lord Jesus, come quickly." 
 But the sinner is described by Christ, when he says, " men's hearts 
 shall fail them for fear, and for looking for those things which 
 are coming upon them. For when he sees the Saviour that once 
 wooed him, coming in flames of fire to judge him, whither shall 
 he fly? tremendum Dei judicium. 
 
 ",4. See the difference between the righteous and the wicked, 
 
JO MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 vigorous thought and intense feeling should dis- 
 tinguish the discourses, delivered in the name of 
 Jesus, on eternal things. 
 
 In this retired, contracted sphere, Ptichard Dar- 
 racott found in Miss Risdon such a partner ag 
 would make any situation pleasant. Inheriting, 
 with undiminished force, the spirit of martyrdom 
 which had induced her mother's father to emi- 
 grate to the new world ; she cheerfully took up 
 her abode at Swanage, where her fine talents, 
 cultivated by her father's care, rendered her a fit 
 companion for a man adapted to more polished 
 society than his flock could furnish. 
 
 Mrs. Pusdon was much gratified by her daugh- 
 ter's union to a man, eminently devoted to the 
 cause for which her father had suffered exile ; 
 and, as the young couple constituted all that was 
 dearest to her in life, she determined to accom- 
 pany her daughter to her residence, and fix her 
 home in their humble dwelling. Here she had the 
 happiness to see Mrs. Darracott present her hus- 
 band with a daughter, who was, early in life, 
 married to Mr. Isaac Clark, a dissenting minister 
 at Bow, in Devonshire. Shortly before the birth 
 of her next child, Mrs. Darracott was called to 
 
 when they look upward. The Christian lifts up his head because 
 his redemption draweth nigh. They see their crown, their trea- 
 sure, in heaven, and their h.earts leap for joy. It now makes their 
 hearts beat frladly, how much more when just entering into pos- 
 session. When the sinner looks upward, he sees a heaven that 
 denies him admittance. The judge says, "I know you not." 
 There is an angry God, whose lace is a flaming fire against thee 
 though it smiles on thy pious neighbour." 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 21 
 
 the painful task of committing to the grave the 
 remains of her beloved mother, who was then in 
 her sixty-third year. 
 
 It is probable that the pangs of this separation 
 contributed to hasten her own end ; for from this 
 time she drooped, and this lily of the valley was 
 destined to be soon transplanted to the bowers of 
 Paradise. Within a few weeks, she followed her 
 parent to the grave, having died in child-bed, 
 shortly after giving birth to the subject of these 
 memoirs. Could she have foreseen what would 
 be the character of her son, she would gladly 
 have sacrificed life to bless the cause of Christ, 
 which she loved better than life, with such a 
 minister. But, without this additional motive, 
 her heavenly mind enabled her cheerfully to re- 
 sign the husband of her youth, and the infant 
 fruits of their love, to depart and be with Christ, 
 which, with the Apostle, she pronounced *« far 
 better." She died in 1716, in the twenty-fourth 
 year of her age. The remains of the mother 
 and daughter are deposited in the same tomb, 
 near the door of the established place of worship, 
 in Swanage.^ Lovely and pleasant were they, 
 in life, and in death they were not divided. A 
 
 ♦At this place, about twenty years ago, preached a gay young 
 clergyman; who, passing by the house of one of Mr. Darracott's 
 former flock, and overhearing him at family prayer, on the 
 evening of the Lord's day, took the liberty of violently kicking at 
 the door, to disturb the family in its worship. When questioned 
 concerning his conduct, the reason he assigned was, that he 
 thought the family were a set of Methodists, and he would have 
 all such people rooted up. But the reader will now rejoice ta 
 
22 
 
 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 grey Stone, much worn 
 passenger, exhibits the 
 ijind inscription : — 
 
 by the foot of the 
 following appearance 
 
 In this Tomb, lies Ihe Body of 
 
 Havnah, Wife of 
 
 R. DARRACOTT, in this 
 
 Parish of Sivanage, 
 
 Minister of the Word of God. 
 
 She, filled with Graces 
 
 and 
 
 adorned with rare Abilities, 
 
 at the 
 
 COMMAND OF GOD, 
 
 forsook her 
 
 Husband and her Infants, 
 
 to fly to Heaven, 
 
 on the 
 
 Tenth of Febhuart, 
 
 ofSaIvationl7l6. 
 of her aire 24. 
 
 in the year 
 
 In this Tomb, also lies the Body 
 of Haxnah, the Mother 
 of the aforesaid Hannah. 
 
 She was born 
 
 IN NEW ENGLAND; 
 
 whither for 
 
 tf\t Safer of ?ltliflion, 
 
 her Father had fled. 
 
 She was married 
 
 to Philipp Risdon, Gent. 
 
 at BiDDEFORD. 
 
 She came hither with 
 
 her Daughter, and in a 
 
 short time put off" Mortality, 
 
 on the Third of January, 
 
 . ^, ( of Salvation 1716. 
 
 mtheyear ^^j^^^ 3^ 
 
 Mr. Darracott had now passed through the 
 flowery part of his path, for all the rest was 
 thickly set with thorns. The recollection of his 
 short-lived domestic bliss was rendered more 
 
 learn, that the pastor of the conjrreffation received, a year or two 
 after, the following letter from ihe same clergyman. 
 Dear Sir, 
 I have had the imspeakable happiness to have my views 
 entirely chansied, with regard to the religious sentiments I 
 preached at Swanacre. I, who once persecuted the truth as it is 
 in Jesus, now preach it. Indeed, Sir, I do not deceive you. 
 Jesus Christ has wondorfully revealed himself to mv soul. — I am 
 a brand plucked from the fire. —I am a monument of divine love. — 
 I reject the doclrinri of heathc?n morality I preached at Swanage, 
 and elsewhere. I preach nothing no\f but the everlasting gospe! of 
 
BfEMOiRS OF DARRACOTT. 23 
 
 painful, by the sight of the babes who were de- 
 prived of their mother at that period of life-, 
 which most needs a mother's care ; and when he 
 sought to supply that loss by a second marriage, 
 he plunged into an abyss of woes. For, after 
 remaining some years in a widowed state, having 
 determined to marry again, he fixed his affections 
 on one who had first attracted his notice, by the 
 appearance of eminent religion. 
 
 His former partner was a woman of such 
 excellencies, as would have eclipsed the charms 
 of most others ; but Mr. Darracott remembered 
 her with regrets more poignant, in consequence of 
 the perfect contrast between her and his second 
 wife. He hoped, indeed, to have found one of 
 kindred spirit : but was soon alarmed by the dis- 
 covery of her hatred to the piety of which his 
 heart was the altar and his house the temple. 
 On remonstrating with her, and asking, " did I 
 
 Jesus Christ ; and in this letter, I tell the people of Swanage, I have 
 built them upon their own righteousnep^?,- but now declare, there is 
 no hope but in a Saviour alone — I have ihe interest of my Saviour 
 warm at heart, and the kive of God abundantly shed abroad in me. 
 May God keep my heart warm and animated in his cause and glory. 
 As I believe you preach the G(jspel, I write to you and acknow- 
 ledge I have done an injury to you, and your people, and the 
 cause of Christ at Swanage. I enlreat your pardon, I did it in 
 ignorance and unbelief. And now, my conscience will not be 
 easy till I have confessed this. 
 
 And I am not ashamed to confess it to yru, to them, and all the 
 world. I beg pardon, also, of an o!d Gentleman in your Society, 
 whose door I violently assaulted, while at prayers in his own house. 
 
 May the Lord prosper the cause of Christ at Swanage, and all 
 the people of God there ; and prosper you in all your well-meant 
 undertakings. My brotherly love to all, that love our Lord Jesus 
 Christ lu sincerity. 
 
 Your unworthy, but labouring Servant in the Goapel. 
 
£4 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 not witness your secret retirement for devotion 
 before I married you ? and liad I not reason to 
 think that religion was your element and delight ?" 
 he received a reply which went as a dagger to his 
 heart : " The greater hypocrite was I ; for it was 
 all done to gain you." 
 
 It must be perfectly unnecessary to say, that 
 such an explanation blasted all prospect of do- 
 mestic felicity. For as religious hypocrisy is an 
 attempt to put a trick upon omniscience, it is 
 most hateful to God, and operates by his just 
 judgment as a deadly poison to the heart and 
 conscience of the hypocrite. Whatever pains, 
 therefore, this pious man might have been dis- 
 posed to take for the conversion of the unhappy 
 creature by whom he had been ensnared into a 
 connexion fatal to his peace ; she soon proved 
 that a good husband, won by guilty arts, will be- 
 come hateful to female depravity. Forsaking 
 the guide of her youth, and renouncing an hon- 
 ourable connexion of which she was not worthy, 
 she threw herself into the arms of a man fit for 
 such fellowship of iniquity ; and after having 
 slept in the bed of the adulterer, she lay down 
 at death in a bed of thorns. 
 
 Many interesting and instructive reflections 
 are suggested by this event. The anguish which 
 it must have occasioned to such a man as Mr. 
 Darracott will excite the sympathy of every 
 reader. It is, then, consoling to know that he 
 was not tortured with the reflections of his own 
 conscience, for rushing with his eyes open into a 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 25 
 
 connexion forbidden by the divine word. To 
 search the heart is not our prerogative, and 
 therefore not our duty. He might confidently 
 look up to him who sometimes sees fit to wound 
 his servants in the tenderest place, but ever 
 affords them consolation under the afllictions of 
 his providence, and converts the severest trials 
 into eternal blessings. Far different was the 
 case of a minister, who was thus warned by an 
 elderly female of his congregation against a con- 
 nexion which he was about to form ; " I shall 
 expect no blessing to attend your ministry from 
 the time you take an enemy to Christ into your 
 bosom." The event justified the premonition. 
 
 It cannot now, indeed, be known with certain- 
 ty, whether Mr. Darracott acted with all the cir- 
 cumspection, which a connexion so important 
 demands. The affections are too often first 
 consulted, and when they have become clamor- 
 ous, they extort from the reluctant judgment a 
 sentence in their own favour. Such evidences 
 are then admitted, as on cool retrospection we 
 pronounce invalid. The concurrence of events 
 which brought the objects together, the time of 
 the first meeting, the very bias of the mind to- 
 wards the union, are all adduced to prove the 
 divine designs in the affair ; so as to call off the 
 judgment from consulting that infallible rule, 
 by which we are to try events and tempers, and 
 to know the will of heaven. 
 
 This aflfliction which befel Mr. Darracott, fur- 
 nishes, however, a solemn warning against all 
 3 
 
26 MEMOIRS Of darracott. 
 
 dissimulation in religion, which may perhaps 
 accomplish its object, but will certainly blast the 
 enjoyment. Here we see an unhappy female 
 succeed in winning the person with whom she 
 was enamoured ; not perceiving, till it was too 
 late, that a kindred disposition is essential to the 
 happiness of life. Those who study to deserve, 
 rather than to obtain, the object of desire, are 
 sure of success ; for ivith the object they then 
 have a blessing, and without it they find com- 
 pensation in their own improvement. Young 
 persons should learn from hence to abhor hypoc- 
 risy, which poisons all the character, and by a 
 thousand paths conducts to misery ; while those 
 who have the care of youth should be roused to 
 warn them against disingenuousness, taking care 
 never to afford them the encouragement which 
 they will usually take, if they can practise it with- 
 out detection. 
 
 But as we are here led to reflect, how limited 
 are the means of discovering the real character 
 of those with whom we are about to enter into 
 the nearest relation of life, we should feel the 
 truth of the scriptural maxim, that a good wife 
 is from the Lord. Those who have succeeded 
 in forming a happy union, which gives a cheerful 
 colour to the whole of life, should gratefully ac- 
 knowledge that they owe it, not to their own 
 perspicacity, but to the divine goodness. The 
 ministers of religion, who have peculiar need of 
 pious partners, to whom they impart a portion of 
 their own public character, have peculiar cause 
 
MEMOIRS OP DARRACOTT. 27 
 
 to adore the kindness that leads them to a suita- 
 ble companion. For a failure in this point, has 
 blasted the usefulness of many an able man. 
 
 When Mr. Darracott shook off the viper that 
 stung him to the heart, he had the happiness of 
 reflecting, that there were no children by this 
 connexion to make the separation more difficult, 
 and that his son and daughter by the former 
 marriage were not now to be educated within 
 the contagion of a wicked woman. His upright 
 affectionate soul, formed for that sweetest solace 
 of human life — domestic endearment, never en- 
 tirely recovered from the shock ; for, what would 
 to any man have been severe, is, to the minister 
 of religion, peculiarly aggravated. It often ex- 
 poses him to disadvantages in his private walk, 
 and compels him to abstain from some subjects 
 of great public interest. 
 
 But it is not in the power of any foe to make 
 a good man entirely wretched. The true sour- 
 ces of bliss are too deep to be poisoned by the 
 hand of the wicked. In communion with God, 
 in the faithful discharge of pastoral duty, and in 
 rearing his children for the service of Christ, 
 Mr. Darracott experienced those consolations 
 which soothed his pains. Nor was the time of 
 trial long ; for he was called to enter into rest 
 before he had completed his fortieth year. 
 
 Before that period, however, he had removed 
 to Chumleigh, in Devon. Whether this step was 
 occasioned by his domestic affliction, or whether 
 
38 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 it was taken with the hope of recovering hi» 
 elasticity of mind by change of scene, cannot 
 now be known ; but as we follow such a man to 
 his last retreat, and to his tomb, we reflect with 
 awe on the inscrutable counsels of Him, who 
 puts the largest cup of affliction into the hands 
 of those, whom he loves best. Blessed are they 
 that mourn for they shall be comforted. 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT, 29 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 FROM THE BIRTH OF MR. DARRACOTT TO HIS SET- 
 TLEMENT AT WELLINGTON. 
 
 SwANAGE, in the isle of Purbeck, on the sea 
 coast of Dorsetshire, has been already pointed 
 out as the birth-place of Mr. Darracott. The first 
 of February, in the year 1717, was the day which 
 gave to the world this child, who was the death 
 of his mother, but afterwards became his father's 
 comfort, under what was worse than the death 
 of a beloved wife, the infamy of her successor. 
 Risdon, his mother's maiden name, was given to 
 him at his baptism by his afflicted surviving parent, 
 who sought to perpetuate a name dear to him, 
 when dedicating to God with sorrowful devotion 
 the tender branch whose parent stock was cut 
 down by the hand of death. Thus the good man, 
 reminded that he himself was mortal, and that 
 he might be soon called to leave his children 
 orphans in the world, laying hold of the true 
 refuge of the Christian parent, the covenant 
 which God has made with his people and their 
 seed after them, said, «' Although my house be 
 not so with God (as I could wish), yet hath he 
 made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered 
 in all things and sure ; this is all my salvation 
 3* 
 
30 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 and all my desire, although he make me not to 
 grow." 
 
 When his son was about five years old, Mr. Dar- 
 racott removed to Chumleigh, in Devonshire. In 
 this town, where young Risdon received the first 
 rudiments of learning under parental tuition, he 
 afterwards consecrated to Christ the first labours 
 of his ministry as his father's successor. Of his 
 boyish days nothing is known worthy of record. 
 It is believed that when his improvement created 
 demands which the leisure of his father could 
 not supply, he was placed under the tuition of 
 Mr. Palk, a dissenting minister of South Molton, 
 in Devonshire. This good roan, as an eminent 
 schoolmaster in his day, was a blessing to the 
 rising generation ; but it is to be regretted that 
 it should ever be necessary for ministers to give 
 themselves to any other employment but that of 
 their ministry, which demands all their moments, 
 all their talents, and all their souls. 
 
 The estimation in which the master is said to 
 have been held by all competent judges, joined 
 to the talents which the pupil is known to have 
 possessed, render it reasonable to presume that 
 Risdon Darracott early acquired considerable 
 proficiency in classical learning. But as he after- 
 wards exclusively devoted his existence to ano- 
 ther and a nobler pursuit, his compositions never 
 betrayed that classical enthusiasm, never poured 
 forth that learned lore, which usually marks the 
 productions of those who have risen to eminence 
 in elegant literature. 
 
MEMOtRS 01* DARRACOTT. Si 
 
 From school, young Darracott went, at about 
 the age of fifteen, to a dissenting college to study 
 for the nriinistry. The serious readers of his life 
 will, therefore, now naturally look for an account 
 of the commencement of his religion. Of this, 
 however, none but very slight and defective re- 
 cords remain. No doubt can be entertained of 
 the divine blessing having so far accompanied 
 the care of his pious father to train him up in the 
 way in which he should go, that he never openly 
 departed from it. His correct morals left him 
 no reason to lament, with many, the sins of his 
 youth, and his early attention to the duties of 
 religion, rendered it impossible for others to 
 mark the period of his conversion. 
 
 But the most early training, and the most skil- 
 ful pruning, leave the nature of the tree unchanged. 
 Nor was Mr. Darracott among the number of 
 those who imagine that it is the privilege of such 
 favoured youths as himself to be exempted from _ 
 the necessity of regeneration. He ever incul- 
 cated with the zeal of conviction, and the skill of 
 experience, the doctrine of the new birth. Many 
 will, therefore conclude, that as he entered upon 
 a course of studies for the ministry as early as the 
 fifteenth jei-xr of his life, he must have enjoyed 
 the happy change before that period. For it will 
 be said, surely a pious minister would not have 
 devoted his son to preach the gospel to others, 
 before it was ascertained that he had experienced 
 its influence himself, and was called to the work 
 
32 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT* 
 
 by that Redeemer whose sole prerogative it is to 
 givQ to his church pastors and teachers. 
 
 It must not, however, be unnoticed, that the 
 first dissenters brought with them from the com- 
 munion, from which they had but recently 
 emerged, other ideas of entrance into the ministry. 
 That sacred calling, charged with so awful re- 
 sponsibilities, was too often chosen from no 
 higher motives than predilection for a father's 
 profession, fondness for literary pursuits, or a 
 wish to favour a delicate constitution with ex- 
 emption from secular labours. It is, therefore, 
 difficult to ascertain whether Risdon Darracott 
 experienced the vital change w^hich produces 
 true religion, before he went to the seminary for 
 the ministry, or whether he found, while there, 
 the inestimable blessing which he was professedly 
 studying to proclaim to others. 
 
 In the choice of a seminary for his son, Mr. 
 Darracott was happily directed by the public 
 voice to that over which Dr. Doddridge presided 
 at Northampton. The academy exhibited at this 
 time, indeed, the evil consequences of admitting 
 young men to study for the ministry, before they 
 had given sufficient evidence of their regenera- 
 tion, or their call to the w^ork. But the charac- 
 ter of the tutor was, in the instance before us, a 
 counterpoise to the evil ; for Doddridge proved 
 an eminent blessing to his pupil. While in the 
 seminary, young Darracott lost his father, but 
 found another in his tutor. The affectionate 
 heart of the doctor soon formed a strong attach- 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 33 
 
 ment to the youth, in whom he perceived a soul 
 panting for the noblest distinction. A humble 
 diligence in his studies won the tutor's esteem, 
 and inspired such hopes of future eminence as 
 are supremely grateful to those who are formed 
 for the education of youth. Some manuscript 
 volumes, written at college, equally attest the 
 ability of the instructor and the industry of the 
 pupil. But it was the frankness of young Darra- 
 cott's mind, the purity and strength of principle 
 manifest in all his conduct, and the ardour of 
 his devotion which so fixed the affections of 
 Doddridge, as to induce him to say, " I hope 
 this young friend will be the guardian of my wid- 
 ow and orphans, should 1 be called away by 
 death." 
 
 As there was a vast diversity of character 
 among the students, the reader is prepared to 
 hear that the subject of these memoirs took into 
 his bosom those whose personal religion after- 
 wards rendered them eminent among the faithful 
 preachers of the gospel. Mr. Fawcett, who be- 
 came successor to Baxter, at Kidderminster, said, 
 when preaching Mr. Darracott's funeral sermon, 
 that he looked back on their friendship formed 
 at Northampton, and cemented by two and twen- 
 ty year's continuance. The character of Mr. 
 Pearsall, of Taunton, another of his early friends, 
 serves also to mark the pious turn of Mr. Darra- 
 cott's mind. 
 
 If, indeed, Northampton was not the place of 
 his new and better birth, it was while he was 
 
S4 MEMOIRS 01' DARRACOTT. 
 
 there, pursuing his studies for the ministry, that 
 his religion blazed forth with that seraphic ar- 
 dour which distinguished his future days. To 
 this period of his life he ever after looked back 
 with peculiar delight; and, when on the verge of 
 eternity, referring to it, he recommended to his 
 children the service of that Gad whom he had 
 served upwards of twenty years. Whether he 
 conceived that his religion then commenced, or 
 whether he thus referred to that era of his exist- 
 ence, because his devotedness to God then be- 
 came more decided, and, his studies drawing to 
 a close, he began to serve God in the gospel of 
 his Son, cannot now be ascertained. 
 
 It is, however, upon the whole, probable, that 
 the college of Northampton was young Darracott's 
 new and better birth-place. Well might he look 
 back upon that scene with grateful wonder ; for 
 they who go to such institutions in a state of 
 nature, are likely to leave them despisers of the 
 grace of God. It is well, when the religion, 
 which was previously possessed, is there pre- 
 served uninjured. For the scriptures have 
 warned us, that youth are in danger of being 
 lifted up by admission into the office of the 
 ministry, and thus falling into the snare of the 
 devil ; while it is obvious, that classical studies, as 
 well as constant intercourse with others who are 
 in the high day of life, and the full flow of spirits, 
 may lower the serious devotional tone of the mind. 
 Happily, however, Risdon Darracott, instead of 
 losing any portion of the religion he formerly 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 35 
 
 had, found at Northampton, that which he before 
 had not : so that instead of coming forth to teach 
 a system of heathen ethics, or to preach a gospel 
 of which he had no experience; he entered upon 
 the exercise of his ministry, with all the sim- 
 plicity of youthful feelings, and all the zeal, in- 
 spired by mercy recently received. 
 
 From this time, his heart declined every 
 other distinction but that (which is indeed 
 the loftiest) of being the devoted servant of Jesus 
 Christ. He now formed some of those friend- 
 ships with pious and distinguished persons be- 
 yond the pale of his own communion, which 
 were the honour and delight of his future 
 days. 
 
 While a student, he became the friend of 
 Hervey, the author of the "Contemplations," 
 and of " Theoron and Aspasio," a work, which, 
 with all the faults imputed to it, has been honoured 
 with extensive usefulness. The letters of Mr. 
 Darracott to this young friend cannot be laid 
 before the reader, as they were left in the hands 
 to which they were sent ; but those of Hervey 
 sufficiently indicate the devotional strain of the 
 correspondence, which the following specimen 
 will testify. It was written in answer to a letter 
 consulting him on the formation of a religious 
 society among the students. 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 " I return you my heartiest thanks for your 
 kind present, and kind^^r letter. The Lord make 
 
36 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 them as beneficial as they were acceptable unto 
 me ! You tell me, my example has had a great 
 and good influence upon you. Strange and glad 
 tidings ! Amen ! Hallelujah ! Sure the principa- 
 lities and powers in heavenly places will be filled 
 with wonder and pleasing amazement ; will tune 
 their highest and most triumphant strings, when 
 they behold their immortal King vouchsafing to 
 work, to carry on the cause of his Christ, by an 
 unclean and sinful worm ! 
 
 " This cool morning, I took a walk, with a de- 
 sign to consider the scheme which you are going 
 to set on foot. My thoughts were all along at- 
 tended with abasement and admiration, to per- 
 ceive you having recourse and consulting me, 
 when you daily converse with gentlemen who are 
 far my superiors in wisdom and knowledge : but, 
 especially, since you have the happiness of living 
 under the same roof with the judicious and de- 
 vout doctor. Yet, sir, I fear I am one of those 
 who, as the inspired apostle says, *' are blind and 
 cannot see far oflf." Nevertheless, since you 
 press for my opinion, for the all-commanding 
 sake of our Redeemer, I cannot, I dare not, 
 withhold it. 
 
 " I think then your proposal, as far as I can 
 see into it, is very proper ; and if discreetly man- 
 aged, and steadily persisted in, cannot fail of 
 being advantageous to yourself and others. "It 
 is not good that Man should be alone," said the 
 Divine Beneficence at the beginning. And if 
 company was a blessing, if it was requisite and 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 37 
 
 necessary to complete man's happiness in Para- 
 dise j sure it is much more a blessing, much 
 more requisite and necessary to complete his 
 holiness in a degenerate and corrupt state. This 
 seems to be evident for several reasons ; four of 
 which at present occur to my mind. 
 
 " 1. Because we are ignorant and short-sight- 
 ed, oftentimes uAable to distinguish good from 
 evil, or to discern the things that are excellent. 
 But God is pleased to reveal to one what is con- 
 cealed from another. So that in a multitude of 
 counsellors there is wisdom. 
 
 " 2. Because we are lovers and admirers of 
 ourselves, unwilling to see our own errors, and 
 therefore unlikely to amend them. Whereas our 
 friends will, with a meek but impartial spirit, 
 show us our faults. As a looking-glass that will 
 not lie, they will fairly set before us all our 
 blemishes. And may we not say with the wise 
 man, '' In such faithful witnesses there is health." 
 May I evermore have such friends, and I will 
 value them more than a brother ! 
 
 " 3. Because we are weak and irresolute ; 
 easily shaken from the most laudable purposes, 
 and apt to let go our integrity upon any opposi- 
 tion. But a band of friends who are like-mind- 
 ed, inspires us with courage and constancy. If 
 we have seconds and associates in our warfare, 
 we are much more emboldened to persevere in 
 fighting the good fight. "A threefold cord is 
 not quickly broken." 
 
 " 4. Because we are slothful and lukewarm in 
 4 
 
38 MEMOIRS OF DA.RRACOTT. 
 
 religious duties, of a Laodicean temper, and apt 
 like Gallio, " to care for no such things." But 
 a holy fellowship will kindle and keep alive a 
 holy fervour. As coals united and laid together 
 burn and glow, but separate and single soon 
 lose both their light and heat. How often have 
 I gone into the company of my dear friends, list- 
 less and spiritless, like one whose nerves were all 
 unstrung ; yet when Icame home, I have found 
 myself quite another person ; vigorous and ac- 
 tive, sanguine and " zealously affected in good 
 matters." This, no doubt, was the Lord's doing, 
 and " it is marvellous in our eyes." 
 
 This, therefore, shows how mightily the 
 Supreme Being is pleased with, and how sig- 
 nally he blesses such assembling of ourselves 
 together, which is another, and perhaps the best 
 argument for executing the project you are 
 debating upon. Methinks it is also an excellent 
 means of enlarging our affections. We are prone, 
 very prone to be straightened and contracted in 
 our bowels. And I believe, a continual inter- 
 change of friendly actions, and affectionate dis- 
 courses, (which are necessary to keep up the 
 society you mention,) is one of the best ways to 
 strip ourselves of all ungenerous and unchristian 
 selfishness ; one of the best ways of learning to 
 " love as brethren, and to be dear unto one ano- 
 ther as our own souls." 
 
 " But I must have done, I find myself running 
 beyond the bounds of an epistle ; nay, have I not 
 tired your patience already ? I only beg of you 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 39 
 
 to excuse my weakness and want of judgment, 
 I hope you will not expose this to my prejudice, 
 but hide and draw a veil over what I have writ- 
 ten in meekness and fear. Pray let me know the 
 issue of your deliberations. How glad should 1 
 be to hear, that when you come together to 
 advance the life and power of religion, you re- 
 member and pray for 
 
 " Your obliged friend, and humble servant, 
 " J. Hervey." 
 " Hardingstone, June 3, 1736." 
 
 This correspondence was equally honourable 
 to both parties. It was to the praise of the 
 student, that he was projecting pious schemes 
 with ardent zeal, and consulting his seniors with 
 profound humility. A humble zeal may be 
 expected to last, like Darracott's, to the close of 
 life ; but the ardour which disdains counsel, will 
 prove like the momentary flash of gunpowder. 
 To Hervey, it was highly honourable that he 
 condescended to hold the correspondence of 
 friendship with the youth, who was just learning 
 to serve God, in the Gospel of his dear Son. 
 Such kind attentions, may not only encourage a 
 modest youth, but may through him, prove a 
 blessing to thousands ; for, nineteen years after, 
 Mr. Darracott sent Mr. Hervey's letter to a 
 Christian friend, accompanied with the following 
 remarks. 
 
 " This is the first letter I received, as I re- 
 member, from Mr. Hervey. A little before this, 
 
40 MEMOIRS OF DIRRACOTT. 
 
 I had an interview with him at a good man's 
 house, who belonged to the Doctor's church, and 
 lived in the parish. Mr. Hervey's father lived 
 about two miles from Northampton. Though it is 
 now almost nineteen years ago, I retain a de- 
 lightful impression of our converse then. I was 
 at this time forming a religious society in North- 
 ampton, which I communicated in a letter to 
 Mr. Hervey : this is his answer, and contains a 
 few cogent arguments to recommend it. I bless 
 God I then began to taste the pleasure David 
 speaks of, when he says, " we took sweet coun- 
 sel together," and must bear it upon record that 
 some of the most delightful hours of my life 
 have been those spent in social exercises. I am 
 glad you have formed yourselves together to this 
 purpose, and send you this to encourage you 
 herein, and may every time you meet furnish 
 you with the best arguments, even your own 
 experience of the comfort and advantage of it. 
 
 " RisDON Darracott." 
 
 " Remember me kindly to every member of 
 your society, my heart is with you, my prayers 
 for you, may you increase, both in number and 
 grace, and be of one heart and one soul." 
 
 Burning to enter upon the delightful work of 
 preaching Christ, Mr. Darracott commenced his 
 labours in a village near Northampton. Here 
 the barbarous spirit of persecution which formerly 
 so disgraced our country, and now occasionally 
 bursts forth from the cold formal pretenders to 
 pharasaic righteousness, as flames from the snow« 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 41 
 
 clad crater of a volcano scarcely yet extinguished, 
 gave our young evangelist a specimen of the 
 trials which he was about to endure. The house 
 in which he was preaching w^as beset by the 
 Village mob, with imprecations demanding the 
 preacher, in hopes of being gratified by wreaking 
 their vengeance on the disturber of their fatal 
 peace. His hearers, however, befriended him, 
 and while the rioters were breaking in on one 
 side of the house, they handed him through a 
 window on the other ; thus he escaped, like Paul 
 let down in a basket from the wall of Damascus. 
 
 On application to the magistrates, who were 
 then sitting in the neighbourhood, he found that 
 instead of affording redress and protection, they 
 were disposed only to gratify their own prejudices 
 and bigotry, in defiance of the laws which they 
 had sworn to execute, and to the hazard of the 
 public peace which they were appointed to pre- 
 serve. By this and some other circumstances, it 
 appeared that the mob was encouraged by those 
 whose education should have elevated them above 
 vulgar prejudice, if their religion had not purified 
 them from selfish and malignant passions. It is, 
 however, pleasing to reflect, that while the 
 superior zeal of Christians in the present day 
 more frequently provokes the spirit of prosecu- 
 tion, these disgusting ebulitions of barbarism 
 now excite horror by their rarity, as well as by 
 their atrocity. 
 
 To their gothic bigotry, young Darracott'i5 
 philanthropic zeal furnished a fine contrast. It 
 4* 
 
42 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 is delightful to behold in one that enters on the 
 ministry, a soul all on fire ; for many are the cir- 
 cumstances which conspire to quench the sacred 
 flame, as we advance in life. Some few, indeed, 
 enjoy the rare felicity of acquiring in advancing 
 years more than the fires of youth ; but the ma- 
 jority of christians, as they increase in wisdom 
 and experience, abate somewhat of their youth- 
 ful fervours. What a chilling sight, then, is a 
 young minister without zeal ; for what frosts may 
 we expect in the wintry age ? 
 
 Mr. Darracott being, from this time, frequently 
 employed in preaching, received the following 
 licence, or testimony, from his tutor and two 
 other ministers. 
 
 August 22, 1737. 
 " We, whose hands are hereunto subscribed, 
 do certify all whom it may concern, that having 
 examined Mr. Risdon Darracott concerning his 
 proficiency in his studies, and being suflSciently 
 assured of his unblamable conversation, judge 
 him to be well qualified to enter upon the office 
 of preaching ; and do advise and encourage him 
 to do so, recommending him to the divine bless- 
 ing, and to the due regard of all Christian so- 
 cieties that need and desire his assistance. Wit- 
 ness our Hands. 
 
 " J. Norris. 
 
 " T. Cartwright. 
 
 « P. Doddridge, D. D." 
 
 Such testimonials were formerly stamped with 
 higher authority than is now attached to them by 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRICOTT. 43 
 
 dissenters. They may be abused, but they are 
 also calculated to answer a most valuable end. 
 If stern authority formerly checked the liberty of 
 prophesying, the neglect of due recommendation 
 now exposes the churches to the intrusion of 
 adventurers, without character, and without prin- 
 ciple. 
 
 From the academy, Mr. Darracott removed to 
 Chumleigh, in the summer of the year 173B, 
 when he had just passed his majority. His father 
 being now dead, and the church still destitute of 
 a pastor, he went, not merely to visit his friends 
 and wander over the scenes endeared by early 
 association, but to enter upon the work of the 
 ministry, of which he never for a moment lost 
 sight. This must have been a sphere peculiarly 
 interesting to him. Standing over his father's 
 ashes, and leading the devotions of that church 
 with which he had first learned to join in the 
 worship of God, he laboured with much appro- 
 bation, and not without some effect. But as the 
 congregation was divided in its choice between 
 him and another young minister, he determined 
 to relinquish the advantages he possessed, and 
 retiring, sought another field of usefulness. In 
 this he affords a salutary lesson to those who are 
 entering on the pastoral care. 
 
 That the numbers who compose a Christian 
 church, with all their diversity of ages, habits, 
 and tastes, should frequently preclude the hope 
 of perfect unanimity in the choice of a pastor, 
 may be readily conceived. But where the mi- 
 
44 MEMOIRS or DARRACOTT^ 
 
 nority is considerable, either in numbers, or in 
 weight and worth, a young man who comes 
 fresh and immature from a seminary, should not 
 feel surprised or wounded ; nor should he by any 
 means conceive it due to his character and the 
 solicitations of his admirers, to risk the peace of 
 a church, by struggling to maintain his post. 
 The church's separation ought to wound him 
 much more than his own rejection. These 
 divisions are sometimes, indeed, productive of the 
 happiest consequences in the increase of places 
 for the preaching of the gospel, and in the con- 
 sequent increase of hearers ; but they frequently 
 kindle passions so guilty in the sight of God, 
 and so dishonourable in the eyes of the world 
 that Christians should study to obtain the good 
 without the evil. And when a young minister 
 humbly follows where the Redeemer leads, seek- 
 ing a field of acceptance and usefulness, without 
 strife or division, his tenderness to the sacred 
 body of Christ will usually be rewarded by that 
 success which should, above every other conside- 
 ration, be dear to his heart. Such was the 
 recompence of Risdon Darracott, who removed 
 from Chumleigh to Penzance, in Cornwall. 
 
 The spirit with which he retired from a scene 
 endeared to him by his paternal roof and the ash- 
 es of a beloved father, will be seen in the follow- 
 ing letter to his friend Pearsall. 
 
MEMOItlS OF DARRACOTT^ 45 
 
 " Penzance, JVov. 2, 1738. 
 " My dear friend, 
 
 " Since I received your kind and affectionate 
 letter, I am removed, to a very considerable dis- 
 tance from the place where I then was. I hope 
 a good Providence has made the remove. The 
 meeting t then presided at, divided about me 
 and another young minister ; an invitation being 
 sent me just then by the people where I now 
 am, I thought proper to accept it, on purpose to 
 withdraw from those who unhappily divided. I 
 am, I think now, as to the place, in the most 
 agreeable situation I ever saw. It lies close to 
 the sea-side, and commands a very large pros- 
 pect ; it has abundant pleasant walks ; the town 
 throughout is very rich and populous. The meet- 
 ing is but small, but the people are very sub- 
 stantial ; and, what to me is mostly valuable, they 
 are very affectionate and truly religious. If I do 
 not settle with them, which at present I am a 
 little doubtful of, it is owing to the distance it is 
 from my estate and relations ; however, may that 
 God who has hitherto led and guided me, direct 
 my mind and overrule my thoughts in subser- 
 viency to his glory. I hope that, and that only, 
 will be the end I shall always in life propose. 
 O that I may live to God, that when I die, I may 
 die with the pleasing hope of living for ever with 
 him ! 
 
 I have heard lately some melancholy accounts 
 about the acadertr/ ; I know not how true they 
 are. I am really most truly concerned for its 
 
 i» I 
 
46 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 welfare, and would desire you would give a little 
 account how things are with you. May God be 
 abundantly better than my fears, and exceed my 
 fondest hopes concerning it ! I find the work of 
 composition much easier, and can make two 
 sermons a week with pleasure : but ah ! I find it 
 still hard to keep up the spirit of religion in my 
 heart, and to go through my work with a be- 
 coming temper : I am too apt to grow cold and 
 lose my spiritual unction. O that the divine 
 Spirit may breathe upon me and give me life ! 
 I earnestly desire a continuance in your prayers, 
 and do assure you, you shall always in mine be 
 affectionately remembered. The good God be 
 with you and bless you, build you up in all 
 valuable learning and true religion, and make 
 you eminently useful in your day and generation ! 
 
 " Please to write me when at leisure, and 
 direct for me at Mr. Enty's, in Penzance, Corn- 
 wall. Give the same direction to Mr. Merivale. 
 My respects to those of the gentlemen who may 
 ask for me. I am, my dear friend, 
 
 " With a great deal of respect, yours, 
 
 " Risdon Darracott." 
 
 His acceptance and success at Penzance left 
 him no reason to regret his former scene of 
 labour. " The Spirit of God," he said to a friend, 
 " is usefully moving upon the hearts of men 
 here ; through my preaching, several are awaken- 
 ed, and setting their faces towards Zion ; some 
 very vicious and debauched characters are re- 
 formed, the young men show great seriousness., 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 47 
 
 and I have great hope of several of them ; and 
 what makes all this the more remarkable is, that 
 there was a strange lukewarmness among pro- 
 fessors themselves when I came hither ; the 
 church seemed to have a name that it lived but 
 was dead. The people so much love me, and I 
 find myself so affectionately concerned for them, 
 that I believe I shall settle with them ; though I 
 shall not determine, till I go up into Devonshire, 
 which will be about a fortnight hence. Some 
 of my friends do not think it convenient to fix 
 with them, as the congregation is but small, and 
 the interest of the dissenters weak through the 
 whole country ; but yet, is the day of small 
 things to be despised ? Could I get such a friend 
 as you near me, it would determine me at once, 
 but the ministers throughout the country, it 
 must be acknowledged are poor preachers, and 
 the interest sinks in their hands. I am sorry at 
 the account you give of yourself about fixing, as 
 I fear I must ever despair of being near you. 
 The London ministers too well know their 
 interest in the city to let you come down into the 
 country. I have sent you two little books, " Dr. 
 Watts on the Strength and Weakness of Human 
 Reason," and his " Redeemer and Sanctifier," as 
 an instance of my kind regard for you. I beg I 
 may have a letter from you when you have 
 received them. I send them by a private hand, 
 but hope they will come safe. I much approve 
 of your leaving the Saturday night society ; I 
 saw the inconvenience of it myself before I left 
 
48 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 the country ; though I have received very great 
 advantages from it, and rejoice that I set it up ; 
 still as the mixed company was found a fault, you 
 did well to separate." 
 
 The prosperity which attended Mr. Darracott's 
 ministry at Penzance was greatly promoted by 
 private means, which are of far greater importance 
 than many seem to imagine. That pastoral visits 
 and social meetings for private devotions, ought 
 not to preclude opportunities for study, nor in- 
 duce a habit of desultory preaching, is readily 
 admitted ; for this would be sacrificing the pri- 
 mary means of usefulness to the secondary. But 
 after employing in the study as much time as is 
 consistent with the preservation of health, and 
 essential to the mental improvement which good 
 preaching requires, suflicient leisure will still be 
 left for abundant pastoral attentions, without 
 which the flock will never prosper. *' I am de- 
 termined," says Mr. Darracott, " to set up a 
 religious society here ; I have spoken of it from 
 the pulpit, and it seems well relished ; I shall 
 preach some whole sermons upon it, to encourage 
 and direct in it." 
 
 " I have again increased my labours, and I do 
 assure you with a great deal of pleasure, to 
 preaching three times on the sabbath. I have 
 added a private lecture to some young men in 
 my own room every Friday evening, and a pub- 
 lic lecture every Wednesday ; in both which, 
 God does seem already to give me great encour- 
 agement. I make it my constant delightful bu- 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 49 
 
 siness to visit the -people from house to house, by 
 which I inform myself how religion is regarded by 
 them, being led to suit my public discourses more 
 advantageously. Several seem to be uqder con- 
 victions, which I hope will end in true conver- 
 sion. I bless God, as to my health, I never was 
 better ; I seem to renew my strength as I renew 
 my labours. I meet with some particular temp- 
 tations. O pray for me ! 
 
 " I had lately a very large and kind letter 
 from the Doctor; I am, indeed, delightfully 
 pleased with the account he gives of things 
 thereabouts. Mr. Whitefield, I find, has been 
 there. I have written a letter to that good man, 
 to desire him to come down into Cornwall, but I 
 fear his going so soon to Georgia will prevent 
 him. I therefore desired the Doctor to write to 
 Mr. Morgan to come down, or get some person 
 of the like holy fire : do you, my dear friend, 
 exert your utmost influence with Mr. Morgan. 
 This country is sadly ignorant, and deserves as 
 much compassion as Wales can do. I am daily 
 seeing how teachable a disposition they are of, 
 and how greatly they thirst after the gospel, and 
 it is a pity they should perish in such multitudes 
 for want of it. Here are, indeed, many clergy- 
 men, but they are sadly negligent of their 
 fiocks." 
 
 In another letter he says, " I am going to visit 
 every person in my congregation, and talk with 
 them. Pray for me." 
 
 While he was thus labouring with ardour and 
 5 
 
(SlO * MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 success, he was seized with an alarming disorder, 
 in the year 1738. In the February of that year, 
 he wrote an account of his illness, not, as afflict- 
 ing him by threatening his life, but as disappoint- 
 ing him when indulging the hope of more abun- 
 dant labours and success. A few weeks after, 
 he gave to a friend a detail of " the conversion of 
 another soul," in a style which expressed a deep 
 sense of the Redeemer's declaration, that one 
 soul outweighs a world. Under this impression, 
 he endeavoured to console himself, and compen- 
 sate his flock for the abridgment of his public la- 
 bours, by increased attention to all private means 
 of usefulness. But the debility of which he com- 
 plained, so rapidly increased, and was accompa- 
 nied with spitting of blood to a degree so alarm- 
 ing, that he was thought to be far advanced in a 
 consumption. 
 
 As a change of air was deemed requisite, he 
 removed to Barnstaple, in Devonshire, where he 
 had many friends. Here he spent the former 
 half of the year 1739. He could not preach 
 as usual, but endeavoured to employ himself by 
 embracing such means of usefulness as still lay 
 within his reach, and particularly by correspond- 
 ing with his pious friends. Whitefield and Wes- 
 ley were among the number, and he mentions 
 the promise of the former to come and supply 
 his lack of service in the West of England. As 
 he began to recover, after leaving Penzance, it 
 was thought the air of that place would not 
 agree with him, which induced him to look out 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 51 
 
 for a new field of labour. The presbyterian 
 congregation at Wellington, in Somersetshire, 
 being destitute of a pastor, and having heard of 
 his situation and character, were, happily for 
 them, induced to give him an invitation, which led 
 to his permanent settlement and distinguished 
 success. 
 
 With pleasure we see, that no inferior motives 
 but that the hand of God removed him from a field 
 of labour which promised so abundant a harvest. 
 For the consideration which some urged, that 
 Penzance was at a great distance from his 
 relations and estate, was unworthy of a minister 
 of Christ. Every genuine minister enters upon 
 the work voluntarily ; but when he has put his 
 hand to the plough, he ie forbidden to look back 
 upon friends and estates, and pleasant residences, 
 on pain of being pronounced unfit for the king- 
 dom of God. Wo to the minister who is not 
 guided by his master's interest as his polar star ! 
 The most paradisaic spot is blasted by the Sav- 
 iour's frowns, and the loveliest circle of friendship 
 may soon be converted into the haunt of discord 
 and the furies. But, '' as he that loveth his life 
 immoderately shall lose it ; while he that sacrific- 
 eth it for Christ's sake shall keep it to life eternal ;" 
 Risdon Darracott, who was contented to serve 
 Christ far from friends, was, by the kindly afflic- 
 tive hand of the Saviour, sent back to enjoy his 
 friends with new relish, and pursue his ministry 
 with increased success. 
 
52 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FROM MR. DARRACOTT's SETTLEMENT AT WELLING- 
 TON TO HIS LAST ILLNESS. 
 
 After having preached occasionally at Wel- 
 lington for some time, Mr. Darracott went to 
 reside there, early in the year 1741. This town, 
 which contained but a few thousand inhabitants, 
 would be deemed by many too narrow a field for 
 such a labourer. But he who deserved a nobler 
 sphere had a heart to create one. If the town 
 was not large, the congregation to which he was 
 invited to preach, formed but a very small pro- 
 portion of its inhabitants. The members of the 
 church amounted to no more than twenty-eight ; 
 though their former pastor, Mr. Berry, who died 
 at an advanced age, had the reputation of a very 
 excellent man. Perhaps his ministry had been 
 protracted, as that of some valuable men has un- 
 happily been, beyond the period of mental or 
 physical vigour, and thus had contributed at last 
 to the diminution rather than the increase of his 
 flock. 
 
 It is deeply to be deplored, that this should 
 often arise from the want of provision among 
 dissenters for those who are worn out in the 
 service of the church. What language but that 
 of Pericles, which left stings in the minds of his 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 53 
 
 hearers, should be employed, when expressing 
 the astonishment and shame produced by the re- 
 flection, that thousands of churches should have 
 existed for a century and a half, possessed of 
 hundreds of thousands of pounds, and never 
 established a fund to support ministers whose age 
 renders them incompetent to the work. May the 
 spirit of christian benevolence soon wipe away 
 from us this reproach ! 
 
 The successor of Mr. Berry, far from lingering 
 on the verge of the field, contenting himself with 
 looking about and intending to labour, instantly 
 devised modes of usefulness new to his flock, and 
 entered upon his work with a spirit which excit- 
 ed equal pleasure and surprise. His fame soon 
 spread, and curiosity drew from the surrounding 
 country crowds of strangers. Whether the pres- 
 sure of the crowd offended those who loved to 
 be at ease in Zion, or his preaching proved too 
 faithful for those who said " prophecy to us 
 smooth things," or from what other cause it 
 originated, it is not now certain ; but some of the 
 trustees of the meeting-house became his avowed 
 enemies. Withdrawing from his ministry, they 
 locked up their pews, which the eagerness of the 
 hearers who were standing in the aisles frequently 
 burst open. The opposition, however, gradually 
 died away, and left him without an enemy, where 
 he certainly deserved none. 
 
 Thus encouraged, he determined to accept the 
 call of the church to the pastoral charge. On 
 the eleventh of November, 1741, he was ordained 
 
64 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 by twelve ministers, among whom no other names 
 are now known, but those of Mr. Moon, of 
 Bridgwater ; Mr. Stodden, of Taunton ; Mr. Palk, 
 of South Molton ; Mr. Westcott, of Tiverton; and 
 Mr. Chorley, of Uffculm. What part of the 
 service each one took, is not known. Mr. 
 Darracott's confession of faith was brief; as he 
 wisely abstained from the vain attempt to adduce 
 the proofs of the doctrines which he avowed as 
 his creed. To the question proposed, " What 
 are your ends for taking upon you the work of 
 the ministry ?" he replied, " If I know any thing 
 of my own heart, I think I may say with the great- 
 est certainty, I have no end of life but to serve God, 
 and no pleasure like it. And especially in enter- 
 ing the ministry, I know no other motive but the 
 glory of God in the salvation of souls. May I 
 promote this, and I have all my desire !" 
 
 On the evening of this day of fasting and 
 prayer, he wrote the following reflections. — 
 "Nov. 11, 1741, in the evening of my ordina- 
 tion. This has been a solemn and delightful 
 day. I have now put my hand to the gospel 
 plough, with a desire never to look back. I have 
 now publicly devoted myself to the work of the 
 ministry, and I heartily rejoice in what I have 
 done. May I never defile the sacred office ! 
 May I never prove a dishonour to my Lord and 
 Master ! May I not be a loiterer, but a labourer 
 in his work ! and may my labours be crowned 
 with abundant success ! Hitherto I have found 
 it to be delightful work, nor have I altogether 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 65 
 
 laboured in vain. I can never be enough thank- 
 ful for what T have seen, and do still see, of a 
 divine blessing upon my poor labours, while I 
 would be encouraged hereby, to hope and pray 
 for greater success. Grant this, dear Lord, to 
 thy unworthy servant, and thou wilt herein 
 gratify his warmest wishes and his highest ambi- 
 tion. Amen and Amen." 
 
 Similar reflections he recorded on the evening 
 of the first Sabbath on which he administered the 
 Lord's supper. "Dec. 4, 1741. This day I 
 have been administering the sacrament for the 
 first time ; and a most delightful season it has 
 been to my soul. I cannot forbear saying on this 
 occasion. Lord ! who and what am I that thou 
 shouldest bring me hitherto ! Four were this 
 day admitted, three of whom date their saving 
 impressions under my poor ministry since I have 
 been here. How does my heart rejoice herein, 
 and all that is within me bless and magnify God! 
 Six more were also proposed, whose hearts I 
 hope divine grace has laid hold of O what has 
 God done by a poor worm already ! There is a 
 visible change upon the face of the congregation, 
 which is at once pleasing and hopeful to me. I 
 trust, indeed, that God has much work to do by 
 me here, and that he has much people in this 
 place to gather in. Whatever he has done, 
 whatever he shall do by my poor ministrations, 
 this be now and ever my humble song, " Not un- 
 to me, O Lord, not unto me, but unto thy name 
 alone be all the glory and all the praise. Amen.'* 
 
56 MEMOIRS OF DA.RRACOTT. 
 
 Such reflections were auspicious omens. If 
 God has promised to fulfil the desires of them 
 that fear him, it could not be doubted, that these 
 aspirations after usefulness, would be indulged 
 with a gracious answer. Many are ambitious to 
 shine in the public assembly, who care not what 
 appearance thy make before God in the closet ; 
 but, where religion is thus distinguished in se- 
 cret, it will not fail to throw a glory round the 
 pulpit. But what hope can be entertained of 
 that man's success, who treats his ordination as a 
 ceremonious exhibition, who enters on his work 
 with no holy longings, and deposits at the foot 
 of the cross no solemn prayers ? 
 
 Being now settled in his pastoral charge, he 
 determined to enter into the married state. He 
 had seen in the afflictions of his father's latter 
 days, reasons for serious caution, which he did 
 not neglect. His affections had been for some 
 time fixed on Miss Katherine Besley, of Barn- 
 staple. This lady was, like himself, a descendant 
 of the puritan confessors, who founded the dis- 
 senting churches. Her mother's name was 
 Peard, whose ancestor, Oliver Peard, is mentioned 
 with honour in the " Nonconformist's Memorial," 
 as minister at Barnstaple. Miss Besley's fine 
 person was inspired with such a mind as 
 Mr. Darracott deserved. The religion of the 
 puritans, in whose scriptural principles she was 
 well instructed, was by her perpetuated to a 
 
MEMOIRS OP DARRACOTT. 67 
 
 period when it unhappily began to be despised as 
 antiquated. 
 
 Their marriage, which was celebrated in the 
 month of December, 1741, was a happy event to 
 them both. She found in him all the generous ten- 
 derness implied in the sacred name of husband ; 
 and his heart, alike unfitted for the solitude of celi- 
 bacy, and the contentions of an inauspicious mar- 
 riage, found in her, repose from the fatigues of his 
 ministry, and solace under the afflictions of life. 
 Her health was not vigorous, but, except in the 
 times when her illness alarmed his fears, she 
 relieved him from all earthly concerns, for which 
 he had an utter aversion. 
 
 When he entered on domestic life, and reared 
 an altar to God where he had pitched his tent, 
 he penned a hymn, which will excite, indeed, no 
 high idea of his poetic genius, but will discover 
 to the pious reader what is infinitely more 
 valuable, a spirit of devotion animating him in 
 every relation of life. 
 
 I. 
 
 Oh ! God of Bethel, whose kind hand. 
 
 Has all our fathers led, 
 And in this desert howling land 
 
 Has still their table spread. 
 
 n. 
 
 To thee our humble vows we raise, 
 
 To thee address our prayer; 
 And trust ourselves and all our ways 
 
 To thy indulgent care. 
 
 HI. 
 
 If thou, through every path we go, 
 
 Wilt be our constant guide ; 
 If thou our food and raiment too 
 
 Wilt graciously provide; 
 
5^8 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 IV. 
 
 If thou, as we press on our way, 
 
 Wilt cheer us with thy love, 
 And ne'er permit our feet to stray 
 
 Till reach'd thy house above : 
 
 V. 
 
 Thee will we choose to be our God, 
 
 To thee ourselves resign ; 
 With all we are and have, Lord, 
 
 We will be ever thine. 
 
 VI. 
 
 For if, Lord, thou ours wilt be, 
 
 We can give up the rest ; 
 Our souls possess'd alone of thee. 
 
 Are infinitely blest. 
 
 At this time he received from Dr. Doddricjge 
 the following letter, which expresses all the be- 
 nevolence and piety of the Doctor's heart. 
 
 '' JVorthampton, Feb. 16, 1741-2. 
 " My dear friend, 
 
 " Though I have too much reason to begin my 
 letter with excuses for so long a silence ; I will 
 trust to your goodness to supply that deficiency, 
 and rather begin it with congratulations. I do 
 therefore most heartily congratulate you on your 
 entrance upon the full exercise of the most 
 honourable and most delightful office in the 
 world. I congratulate you on your relation to so 
 good a people ; on your being honoured with 
 such singular success, to have a society of such 
 persons among you, raised from death to such a 
 degree of spiritual life, by the almighty hand of 
 God. 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 69 
 
 And I also congratulate you, on entering into 
 the matrimonial state with so agreeable a com- 
 panion for life as I hear Mrs. Darracott is. A per- 
 son who, if my information be right, has all the 
 charms of person, temper, and character ; and is 
 likely not only to be a faithful but a delightful 
 companion in the way to heaven. May God 
 multiply his blessings upon you both ! May you 
 both strengthen each other's hands, and quicken 
 each other's hearts in the great business of life ! 
 And may God give you health and prosperity in 
 your worldly affairs, and make you long-lived 
 blessings to each other and to the church. 
 
 " My family has been visited with an affliction 
 which is grievous to us, the death of Mr. Lowe, 
 who died of a gallopping consumption last Wed- 
 nesday, and is this evening to be interred. It is 
 a sad stroke upon us, but softened with this 
 circumstance, that though he came hither against 
 his will, God was here pleased to convince him, 
 as he told me almost with his dying, at least with 
 his labouring breath, of many errors which he 
 had imbibed from the pernicious writings of that 
 wretched Chubbs and some other persons, and 
 brought him to those views of Christ, and that 
 dependance upon him for life and salvation, in 
 which I hope he is now rejoicing in the presence 
 of God above. He expressed his joy in the 
 strongest terms that ever he came under this roof, 
 and I hope his dying conversation was more useful 
 than the living labours of some are likely to be. 
 
60 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 God grant that the impression may be deep and 
 lasting ! 
 
 How is it that when eternity comes into view, 
 some honest moral people, who before had 
 thought lightly of the gospel, grow into a sudden 
 admiration of it, and dare not fix their own 
 dependance upon any thing else, without any 
 thing to work their conviction but their own 
 inward experience ? It is a circumstance worth 
 noticing, and worth communicating. Adored be 
 divine grace, we are making it our daily refuge : 
 and I hope and trust it will hold up our hearts in 
 peace and joy, when every thing else puts on a 
 gloomy aspect^ and the shadow of the grave is 
 spread dark and thick over us. Faith has an eye 
 that will penetrate through the cloud, and God 
 has a voice which I hope our souls will then hear, 
 and will fill them not only with serenity, but, if it 
 be his will, with transport. 
 
 I was particularly mindful of you, on your first 
 sacrament day, and doubt not but you had much 
 of the presence of God in it. I think of accepting 
 your kind invitation in the month of June or July, 
 if God prolong my poor unprofitable life ; (for, 
 alas ! 'tis too much so,) to that period. O that my 
 heart were more entirely his ! O that my life 
 were one continued series of zealous active 
 services ! Go on vigorously in your work, my 
 dear brother, preach Christ crucified to perishing 
 souls as their wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, 
 and redemption. Lift him up as on the cross, for 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 64 
 
 the healing of precious immortal souls, that they 
 may look unto him and be saved. 
 
 I have hopes that God w^ill spread the savour 
 of his name abroad, and vi^ill revive religion among 
 you and us. I feel the presence of God in my 
 soul, in a more delightful manner than I can 
 express, and I think when I pray for the advance- 
 ment of his interest in the vv^orld, there is some 
 token of good given in to me, which encourages 
 me to believe that my prayers are heard. Salute 
 all your society in my name, and assure them 
 that I wish them increase of grace and peace. I 
 have not time to add any thing more, but that I 
 am, most cordially yours, 
 
 " P. Doddridge." 
 
 Such comforts as Mr. Darracott now enjoyed 
 have caused some men to sink the public in the 
 domestic character, reminding us of the bee 
 whose wings have become incapable of flight by 
 immersion in its own honey. But Mr. Darracott 
 happily escaped this ungrateful perversion of the 
 favours of heaven. He pursued his labours with 
 new zeal, and the Redeemer crowned them with 
 augmented blessings. His hearers increased to 
 such an amount as constantly to overflow the place 
 of worship, which, however, served to display the 
 purity of his motives and his freedom from vanity ; 
 for in all his correspondence he mentions only that 
 which is the grand end of hearing, the conversion 
 of souls to God, and the increased dominion of 
 religion over the hearts of professed Christians. 
 6 
 
62 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 These evidences of his usefulness were continu- 
 ally inspiring him with fresh delight, so that the 
 eight and tv\^enty original members of the church 
 soon saw themselves surrounded at the Lord's 
 table by accessions far beyond their own number. 
 
 He opened houses for worship in most of the 
 adjacent villages, where he preached weekly. 
 In one, which was about a mile from Welling- 
 ton, and from the character of the inhabitants 
 was called Rogue's Green, such a change was 
 effected, as produced a change of the name. 
 Drunkenness, rioting, and indeed sin of every 
 description, formerly seemed the only business 
 of the inhabitants. Not one of them was known 
 to pretend to prayer or religion under any form. 
 But it pleased God to crown Mr. Darracott's 
 preaching here with such efficacy, that, after a 
 time, the traveller heard on an evening the 
 sound of prayer and praise in almost every house. 
 The place lost its former name, and is now called 
 Roe or Row Green. 
 
 But the great high-priest of the church, who 
 was made perfect through sufferings, had too 
 much regard for this faithful servant to leave him 
 destitute of conformity to himself in this most 
 endearing part of his character so essential to the 
 perfection of religion. Mr. Darracott was, in 
 the month of May, 1743, thrown upon the bed of 
 sickness, which would not have been mentioned 
 here (as neither the affliction nor its consolations 
 can be reckoned extraordinary in the history of 
 a Christian) were it not that it affords an oppor- 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 65 
 
 tlinity of introducing a letter to him from Dr. 
 Doddridge, of which no pious reader will wish 
 to have been deprived. 
 
 " Yes, my dear and invaluable friend, though 
 it be a Sabbath and a sacrament day, if you 
 desire a few lines from me by return of post 
 you shall be sure to have them, and I doubt not 
 that our dear Lord will not only excuse, but 
 accept such an office of love, in such sacred 
 moments too. But my heart is pained while I 
 undertake it, when I consider in what circum- 
 stances I am writing to you. Good Mr. Fawcett 
 had prepared me for that shock which the latter 
 part of your letter was to give me, by acquainting 
 me with your illness, your dangerous illness. 
 And O ! what a wound was it to my heart, to 
 mine which loves you as a tender parent, and 
 more than a parent, if that can be possible, to me 
 who look upon you as eminently my joy, and 
 my crown. 
 
 " Must the residue of your days, my dear friend, 
 be cut short in the midst ? must the world and 
 the church lose you ? Alas ! it is almost like a 
 sword in my heart. 'Tis what I hardly know 
 how to bring my mind to submit to, and ac- 
 quiesce in, with that humble deference which 
 we owe to that infinite wisdom which is to 
 determine the affair. But I would fain say, 
 " Father, thy will be done !" I would give you 
 up to him whose claims to you are so much 
 greater than ours ; not without a secret hope that 
 he would give you back again to our humble 
 
64 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 prayer, and will make your life the sweeter, and 
 your labour yet, if possible, more acceptable and 
 useful in consequence of this threatening illness. 
 Of this, at least, I am sure, he has stirred up 
 my spirit, and that of several others, to pray 
 earnestly for you, and to plead almost as for our 
 own soul. And I cannot but think that the 
 consequence is, he will spare you a little to 
 recover strength. 
 
 " If, however, our dear Lord who hath redeemed 
 you by his blood should lead you immediately to 
 himself; O happy man that you are ! O favourite 
 servant, so soon to be called home ! so soon 
 ripened for heaven, and brought thither ! " Blessed 
 are the dead that die in the Lord." Blessed vvill 
 you be in that holy society in which you will 
 then be fixed ; in that perfect state free from 
 every evil of mind or of body, full of everlasting, 
 uninterrupted, ardent love, love like that which 
 fills the breasts of cherubim and seraphim. You 
 will see our dear Lord. 
 
 " I did but dream awhile ago, that our Lord 
 Jesus Christ was come into the room in which I 
 was, and gave a signal that he was opening the 
 door; and my heart sprung with such a joy that I 
 immediately awoke as in an extacy ; and I can 
 truly say, I never felt a joy in my whole life that 
 seemed to equal it. It appeared to be a ray of 
 heaven, and it seems, though it happened before 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 65 
 
 I saw you last, to have left something of a trace 
 of heaven on my soul to this moment. 
 
 " What then will your waking raptures be ? 
 your substantial joys ? you will forget this poor 
 body ; perhaps forget the dearest of all your rela- 
 tives, or if you remember them, it will be to adore 
 God who keeps and blesses them, and will un- 
 doubtedly magnify his mercy to them. If you 
 should see them even in affliction, your heart will 
 rejoice, in that you will view their afflictions in 
 the light of heaven. You will think what benefit 
 you yourself have received from chastenings which 
 were not for the present joyous but grievous, and 
 will see the interval of time that hinders the 
 embrace of the perfect spirits in glory but as 
 a moment, and the twinkling of an eye. 
 
 " Away then, my dear friend, with every mourn- 
 ful view. Begin, begin upon earth the songs of 
 heaven. Tell all that are around you what God 
 hath done for your soul, and what he is still do- 
 ing. Open the inward joy of your heart to them, 
 and let them see what that gospel you have 
 preached does for you, that they may envy your 
 dying bed, if yours be so ; and may, amidst all 
 their sorrows, rejoice that you are going to your 
 Father. 
 
 Look, my dear brother, look to Jesus, our 
 rising, ascending, Lord. Behold him pointing 
 upward, amidst the raptures wath which he was 
 leaving this poor world of ours ; pointing upward, 
 and saying, " I ascend to my father and to your 
 father, to my God and to your God." O happy man 
 6* 
 
66 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 that you are, so quickly to ascend after him ! 
 Receive in this case not my condolence, but 
 congratulation ; my pity is not yours, but dear 
 Mrs. Darracott's. How shall I name that 
 amiable woman in such a circumstance ? The 
 Lord support her, the Lord spare her, and lay 
 not this trial upon her. But if she must bear it, 
 may he himself who alone can do it, make up the 
 loss, and be a better husband to her than that 
 very delightful one he may take away. Commit 
 her to his Providence and his grace, without a 
 suspicious thought ; her and her dear child. 
 O my dear friend, be assured God will take 
 tender, constant, generous care of them both. 
 Had God given me possession, proportionable to 
 my love to you, I would say, she should be as my 
 sister, and the little one as my daughter, and 
 greatly should I think myself honoured and blessed 
 in supplying the wants of both. 
 
 " But of this be assured, that I will watch over 
 them according to my ability. They shall want 
 no counsel ; no assistance that I can give or pro- 
 cure for them, shall stand foremost in the list of 
 those whose necessities, if they should be in any 
 necessity, I will remember, and to the utmost of 
 my power exert myself to help. But I rather 
 pray, if it be the blessed will of our dear and 
 gracious Disposer and Lord, that you may be 
 spared to show kindness to my widow and 
 orphans, than I to yours. But farewell ! you see 
 to what the line or two, which you asked of me, 
 is grown up. My overflowing heart would have 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 67 
 
 made it much longer, would my time, my paper, 
 and my business have allowed it. For alas ! it 
 seems to me that I do but now begin to learn 
 with how much tenderness I am, 
 " Dear Sir, 
 " Your affectionate brother and friend in ever- 
 lasting bonds, which death, instead of dissolving, 
 will tie the faster, 
 
 "P. Doddridge." 
 
 " He that watereth others shall be watered 
 also himself. Give and it shall be given to you ; 
 good measure pressed down, and shaken together, 
 and running over, shall men give into your 
 bosom ; for with the same measure that ye mete 
 withal, it shall be measured to you again." 
 These promises were most strikingly verified in 
 the history of Doddridge. The letter which has 
 now opened to the reader the kindness, sympathy, 
 and piety of the doctor's breast, was requited and 
 surpassed by one sent to him in his last illness by 
 Mr. Barker, minister of Salter's Hall, London. 
 It must be well known to every reader of Dod- 
 dridge's life. 
 
 But, as some who may peruse this volume may 
 not have seen that valuable work, the letter is 
 here presented, as a fit companion to the for- 
 mer : — 
 
 " Lessingham, Meal, and Barker, are too near- 
 ly interested in that precious life, which now 
 appears in danger of being cut off in the midst of 
 its days, to hear of its waste and languishing 
 
08 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 without great concern, and fervent prayer to 
 God. 
 
 '' How your letter affected my heart in public, 
 your friends are witness ; but what I felt for my 
 dear brother, and the ministers and churches of 
 Christ, God and myself only know. I will not 
 now say, why did you spend so fast ? why did you 
 not spare yourself a little sooner ? I will rather 
 heartily thank you, that you use all the means 
 you can to repair your frame, and restore and 
 prolong your usefulness. It is the kindest thing 
 you can do, and the highest instance of friend- 
 ship you can now shew us ; and I acknowledge 
 your goodness to us, in this point, with tears of 
 joy. Consent and choose to stay with us awhile 
 longer, my dear friend, if it please God. This is 
 not only needful to Northampton and its adjacent 
 towns and villages, but desirable to us all, and 
 beneficial to our whole interest. Stay Doddridge, 
 O stay and strengthen our hands, whose shadows 
 grow long ! Fifty is but the height of vigour, 
 usefulness, and honour. Don't take leave ab- 
 ruptly. Providence hath not directed thee yet, 
 on whom to drop thy mantle. Who shall instruct 
 our youth, fill our vacant churches, animate our 
 associations, and diff'use a spirit of piety, mode- 
 ration, candour, and charity through our villages 
 and churches ; and a spirit of prayer and suppli- 
 cation into our towns and cities, when thou art 
 removed from us ? Especially, who shall unfold 
 the sacred oracles, teach us the meaning and use 
 of our bibles, rescue us from the bondage of 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 69 
 
 systems, party-opinions, empty, useless specula- 
 tions, and fashionable forms and phrases ; and 
 point out to us the simple, intelligible, consistent, 
 uniform religion of our Lord and Saviour ? Who 
 
 shall But I am silenced by the voice of Him, 
 
 who says, < Shall I not do what I will with my 
 own ? Is it not my prerogative to take and leave, 
 as seemeth me good ? I demand the liberty of 
 disposing of my own servants at my own pleas- 
 ure. He hath laboured more abundantly. His 
 times are in my hand. He hath not slept as do 
 others. He hath risen to nobler heights than 
 things below. He hopes to inherit glory. He 
 hath laboured for that, which endureth to eternal 
 life : Labour, which the more it abounds, the 
 more it exalts and magnifies its object, and the 
 more effectually answers and secures its end. — It 
 is yours to wait and trust, — mine to dispose and 
 govern. — On me be the care of ministers and 
 churches. — With me is the residue of the Spirit. 
 — Both the vineyard and the labourers are mine. 
 — I set them to work, and when I please, I call 
 
 them and give them their hire.' With these 
 
 thoughts, my passions subside, — my mind is 
 softened and satisfied, — I resign thee, myself and 
 all, to God, saying, ^ thy will be done !' 
 
 " But now for the wings of faith and contempla- 
 tion. Let me take thy hand, my dear brother, 
 and walk a turn or two in yonder spacious 
 regions. Yes, it is so ; we read it in the book of 
 God, that word of truth and gospel of our salva- 
 tion — that as in Adam all die, even so in Christ 
 
70 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 shall all be made alive. The one ruined his 
 posterity by sin ; the other raiseth his seed to 
 immortality. This poisoned the dart and in- 
 flamed the wound of death ; but Jesus Christ 
 redeemeth us from this captivity. See, thou 
 christian minister, thou friend of my bosom and 
 faithful servant of God, see the important period, 
 when the surprising signs and descendmg inha- 
 bitants of heaven, proclaim the second coming 
 of our divine Saviour ! The heavens open and 
 disclose his radiant glory. — Hear the awakening 
 trump. — See, the dead in Christ arise glorious 
 and immortal — leave corruption, weakness and 
 honour behind them, and behold their Lord and 
 Head seated on his throne of judgment, attended 
 and surrounded with the ministers of his power 
 and pleasure, and shining in all the fulness of 
 celestial glory ; — and not only see but share his 
 victory and lustre, — partake of his image and 
 influence. And behold the demolished fabric 
 reared again, stately and ornamented — shining 
 and illustrious — permanent and durable — to de- 
 monstrate how entirely death is vanquished, all 
 its ruins repaired ; and what was once meat for 
 worms is now a companion of angels : for when 
 ' this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, 
 and this mortal, immortality,' every eye will be 
 fastened on the mighty conqueror, and every 
 voice and harp be tuned for that transporting 
 song, ' O Death, where is thy sting ? O Grave, 
 where is thy victory ?' Yes, Doddridge, it is so. 
 The fruit of our Redeemer's sufferings and 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 7l 
 
 victory is the entire and eternal destruction of 
 sin and death. And is it not a glorious destruc- 
 tion ? a most blessed ruin ? No enemy so 
 formidable — no tyranny so bitter — no fetters so 
 heavy and galling — no prison so dark and dismal 
 — but they are vanquished and disarmed ; — the 
 unerring dart is blunted and broken — the prison 
 pulled down and razed. Our Lord is risen, as 
 ' the first-fruits of them that slept.' 
 
 «' How glad should I be to hear, that God is so 
 pleased to prolong thy life on earth, to declare 
 the glorious truths and teach us to improve them ! 
 In this, your friends with you, and many more in 
 every place, join, and make it our common 
 petition to the great Disposer of all events. Use 
 every means you can for the recovery of your 
 health, for the sake of your friends, among whom 
 is your faithful and affectionate, 
 
 "J. Barker." 
 
 No one can wonder to hear Orton, the biogra- 
 pher of Doddridge, say, " the Doctor was so 
 deeply affected with the friendship expressed in 
 this letter, and the divine consolations it admin- 
 istered, that there was reason to fear that his 
 tender frame would have sunken under the 
 emotions of his gratitude and joy." The reader 
 of these two beautiful letters, can scarcely per- 
 suade himself that the writer of the latter had 
 not seen that of Doddridge, and determined to 
 surpass it. 
 
 From an affliction rendered pleasant by the 
 
72 MEMOIRS or DARRACOTT. 
 
 consolations of God, and the friendship of the 
 just, Mr. Darracott came forth like a giant re- 
 freshed with wine. It is not, indeed, surprising 
 that such consolations as he enjoyed should feed 
 the flames of his zeal, and suggest new modes of 
 improving life to the utmost. To the ordinary 
 addresses from the pulpit he added letters written 
 to those whom his sermons had failed to impress, 
 or whose impressions were but recent. Some- 
 times, instead of sending, he would read them 
 to those for whom they were intended ; thus he 
 gave a more solemn address than ordinary con- 
 versation allows, while yet he avoided the ap- 
 pearance of formal preaching. 
 
 A letter written to a friend at this time de- 
 Telopes the heart of a faithful pastor. " When I 
 wrote last, I think I told you I had buried a young 
 convert God gave me, who died lately ; that I 
 preached his funeral sermon, and was desired to 
 preach it again the Sabbath following. I did so, 
 with renewed prayers that God would give us 
 another to fill up the room of the deceased ; and 
 God gave me great freedom to speak to young 
 persons on the happiness of being in Christ. A 
 young lady I saw was much affected. When I 
 came home I found myself much impressed to 
 pray for her in particular, and the next morning 
 to write to her on the subject. I accordingly 
 did, and in the evening having taken her up into 
 my study, I read my letter to her, at which she 
 wept much ; I asked her whether she had not 
 been impressed, and she told me, she had. This 
 
MEMOIllS OF DAHRACOT T. 
 
 appeared remarkable to us both ; for till this 
 time I had little thought of her, seeing her quite 
 gay and unconcerned ; and she owned, that till 
 lately she had never been affected. Just upon 
 this, even that very week, it pleased Gcd, in 
 order to establish and confirm tiie work, to bring 
 dear Miss Baker to lake up her abode at my 
 house. I immediately acquainted her with it, 
 and she was much surj^rised and delighted. The 
 week after, a society was formed of females for 
 private prayer." 
 
 " While I was writing this, I was called down 
 to speak with Miss Norman, and to my great 
 surprise found that she was come to talk with 
 me about her soul, and wished particularly to be 
 taken into communion. I find she has been 
 under concern a long time, and blesses God she 
 ever heard me : this is the more surprising, as the 
 whole family has been very strange to us and 
 is still." 
 
 It is not to be supposed that he laboured 
 without opposition, or enjoyed success without 
 afiliction. The fruits of his labours were some- 
 times snatched from his hands by those who 
 differed from him in some points, not however 
 essential to a Christian's hopes : but what most 
 grieved the affectionate soul of Darracott was, to 
 gee that those who had not won the converts 
 from the world, could estrange their hearts from 
 him who had. 
 
 Opposition of another kind too, tried whether 
 his patience would keep pace with his zeal. He 
 7 
 
74 MEMOIRS OF DARUACOTT. • 
 
 had been for some time in the habit of preaching 
 at Langford, a village about two miles from 
 Wellington. On one occasion, when accompa- 
 nied by a number of his friends from the town, 
 the congregation became so numerous, that he 
 was obliged to stand at the door to afford to the 
 whole company the benefit of the worship. Just 
 before he began to preach, a neighbouring gen- 
 tleman came up at the head of a mob armed 
 with clubs, swearing and threatening to fall upon 
 him if he attempted to preach. Though Mr. 
 Darracott assured this gentleman-rioter that the 
 house w^as registered, and that he was under 
 the protection of the law, it only drew forth the 
 heroic declaration of not caring for the law. Mr. 
 Darracott deemed it prudent, lest mischief should 
 ensue, to desist from preaching at that time. He 
 drew up an account of the atfair, and threatened 
 to prosecute, which intention he afterwards 
 abandoned. 
 
 This mode of opposition was not resorted to 
 again. Those who in the heat of wine, at the 
 head of a band of rioters, bid defiance to law and 
 government, have usually too much tenderness 
 for their persons, property, and honour, coolly to 
 risk a fine or a jail, for the sake of venting their 
 hatred to the preaching of the gospel. The 
 reader will not be surprised to learn, that it was 
 such a gentleman as opposed him on this occa- 
 sion, who, on seeing Mr. Darracott pass by, pro- 
 nounced this eulogium on him, "there goes a 
 man who serves God as if the Devil were in him." 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 75 
 
 Thus the demons themselves were compelled to 
 publish the Saviour's praise : " we know thee 
 who thou art, the holy one of God." Indeed the 
 praises which impiety has bestowed upon religion, 
 would, if collected, form a volume of no small 
 size or interest. 
 
 This volume will doubtless be produced, when 
 the judgment shall sit, and the books shall be 
 opened. It will then appear, that the christian's 
 light has so shone before men, that they have 
 seen the good works of the righteous, and will 
 be compelled to glorify God in the day of visita- 
 tion. But we can scarcely conceive of a testi- 
 mony to the zeal of a christian more striking, than 
 that given to Darracott. It was manifest, even 
 to his enemies, that he served his Maker with a 
 devotion more than human : but as they were 
 not in the habit of ascribing any thing to divine 
 influence, they attributed his zeal for God to the 
 impulse of the Devil. 
 
 In the year 174 5, Mr. Darracott felt, in coni- 
 mon with most who were deeply interested in 
 the welfare of religion, the most distressing alarms 
 from the rebellion in the north. The progress 
 of the Pretender brought to the view of the non- 
 conformists, the days when their fathers were 
 hunted into holes and corners, or immured in 
 prisons. Their children were filled with horror 
 at the prospect of the return of the Stuarts, 
 whom they regarded as the sworn foes of liberty, 
 of conscience and pure religion. 
 
 This storm, however, which threatened to blast 
 
 i^h 
 
76 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT- 
 
 all his prospects of usefulness was soon blown 
 over, and left Mr. Darracott to exchange the cry 
 of danger, the prayer of faith, for the song of 
 praise, and the grateful inquiry " what shall I 
 render to the Lord fur all his benefits ?" The 
 dread of speedy termination to his labours, taught 
 him, indeed, to work while it was day, and his 
 zeal was abundantly rewarded by seeing such 
 crowds flock around his pulpit, as made it abso- 
 lutely necessary to enlarge the place of worship. 
 The sum which they proposed to expend was 
 only a hundred pounds, but as this was one-fourth 
 of what the whole place had cost about twenty 
 years before, it was also more than the slender 
 finances of the congregation could afford ; so that 
 it became necessary for him to lindertake the 
 disagreeable task of travelling to collect among 
 other societies. 
 
 That they built, not merely to accommodate 
 casual hearers, will be seen from an account of 
 the increase of the church which he wrote about 
 this time. It is dated " November 1 I, 1747, the 
 sixth anniversary of my ordination." He kept 
 this as a day of fasting and prayer, a practice 
 which cannot be too warmly recommended to 
 ministers ; for it is the natural result of eminent 
 religion employed in the work of the ministry. 
 To an unsuccessful minister it might suggest 
 such reflections, and prompt to such conduct, as 
 might save him from being thrown aside by an 
 indignant God, as a vessel in which he has no 
 pleasure. To those who have succeeded, like 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 77 
 
 Risdon Darracott, it must be unnecessary to re- 
 commend such days of review ; they have aheady 
 been tried and sufficiently recommended them- 
 selves by numerous benefits, and by such exqui- 
 site pleasures as Mr. Darracott here expressed. 
 
 " O what thankfulness and joy has it raised in 
 my heart to-day, to look over a list of so many 
 seals given to my worthless labours : I have 
 been praising God for one hundred and twelve 
 souls, since this day six years, added to the 
 church ; the far greater part of whom have been 
 begotten again in Christ Jesus under my ministry, 
 and of all I have good hope. A list of names 
 which I would not part with for the joys of the 
 whole earth." 
 
 The following letter to his sister in law, gives 
 so full an account of his success at this time, 
 that it will form the best continuation of the 
 narrative which it may seem to interrupt. 
 
 « Wellington, Feb, 10, 1746-7. 
 " My dear sister, 
 " I am now set down to give you some account 
 of things here : and I think there never was at 
 one time a greater work going on than there 
 is just now. Ever since my refusal of Petherton, 
 there hath been a fresh work here among us. 
 The first who were awakened, and I believe are 
 now effectually converted, were Alexander Swine 
 and his wife ; and there is this remarkable in it* 
 7* 
 
78 MEMOIRS OF DAKRACOTT. 
 
 that though he had been two years under my 
 ministry, and about the beginning of it was taken 
 very ill and given over, at which time I attended 
 him often and prayed with him ; yet till about 
 three months ago, when I went down to see 
 him and his wife, and talked with them about 
 their souls, and spent some time in prayer, 
 he hath declared to me since, that he was never 
 before once affected, nor ever prayed in all his 
 life. But then he felt a mighty power going 
 forth with my discourse and prayer, and from 
 that time is so enlightened and wonderfully 
 changed as surprises himself and all that inti- 
 mately knew him ; and now behold he prays, so 
 that his very neighbours take notice of it. 
 
 " He was taken into the church, the first of 
 January, to the full satisfaction of all. And his 
 wife, who was always brought up among the 
 dissenters, and for many years had been under 
 convictions, and laboured hard to bring over her 
 husband to the meeting ; yet never felt the work 
 to be deep in her soul, till that very day. So 
 that they were both as it were born again at tho 
 same time, and under the same means, though 
 she was taken into the church the month before 
 her husband ; they now live together sweetly in 
 the fear of God, and their house is become the 
 house of prayer. 
 
 " The next remarkable work was by two ser- 
 mons I preached ; one in the evening of the old 
 year, from those words, Rev. x. 5^ 6. ' And the 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOtt. 79 
 
 Hngel which I saw stand upon the sea, and upon 
 the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven and sware 
 by him that liveth for ever and ever, that there 
 should be time no longer.' And the other, on 
 the new year's day morning, from Moses's invita^ 
 tionto his brother in law, Numb. x. 29. ' We 
 are journeying unto the place of which the 
 Lord said, I will give it you. Come thou with 
 us, and we will do thee good : for the Lord hath 
 spoken good concerning Israel.' 
 
 " Under both those sermons many were awa- 
 kened, and still continue to give good hopes» 
 Among the rest Miss Gifford, to whom I wrote a 
 letter the new year's day after the sermon, and 
 sent her by Miss Haine, which was much blessed, 
 so that she immediately came to me, and with 
 many tears thanked me. I hope the Lord will 
 soon add her to the church. She was that even- 
 ing with the women's society. Her brother 
 James is under great concern, and I have wrote 
 a letter to send him, may God make it as suc- 
 cessful as his sister's was. 
 
 " One Mr. Oland, a farmer, (whom I believe 
 you knew) hath been more than ordinarily con- 
 cerned of late about his soul. He hath always 
 been a moral man, but, for some Sabbaths past^ 
 he hath been much affected under the word ; and 
 in my last address from the Lord's table to the 
 spectators, was so struck that he was obliged to 
 lay down his head. I have this week sent him a 
 letter, and am waiting the success. Here are 
 
80 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 several others under great concern, whom you 
 don't know, and some of them that I was myself 
 never acquainted with, till the concern they were 
 under brought them to me. A set of sermons I 
 have been some time preaching, on our lost and 
 undone state by nature, and recovery by the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, are much blessed. On Lord's 
 day, I was told that a company of boys met to- 
 gether to pray, and are much altered in their 
 temper. I am to meet them next Saturday night, 
 at the house of one of the boys' father's. 
 
 There is one instance more of the Lord's work 
 I must be sure to tell you, as perhaps the most 
 remarkable of all ; and that is the bringing in one 
 at the eleventh hour. His name is Fry, a farmer, 
 one of the oldest in the congregation, being four- 
 score years old at Candlemas. Though he hath 
 been a constant attendant on the worship of God 
 for so many years, yet he owns he was never any 
 way awakened till I came hither, and never so 
 much as of late. He came to me before our last 
 preparation, and with tears told me, he could not 
 die satisfied until he had given up his soul to 
 Christ in his own ordinance. And from what 
 conversation I then had with him I had encour- 
 agement then to propose him, and am since 
 more satisfied. So that I believe he will be re- 
 ceived next time. Thus can v/e sing to the glo- 
 ry of our dear Redeemer. 
 
 Wide as the reach of Satan's rage, 
 Doth thy salvation flow ; 
 
 'Tis not confin'd to sex or age, 
 The lofiy or the low. 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARKACOTti 81 
 
 " Oh ! my dear sister, when you read this, go 
 «nd bless God on our behalf. Shout with us the 
 piaises of free grace. I see more every day that 
 the grace of God is free ; and for this reason it 
 will be adored by all the happy subjects of it to 
 all eternity. It passes by whom it will, and 
 chooses whom it pleases. The place, the person, 
 and the instrument of the work, is all owing to 
 the free grace of God. Else why is Wellington 
 so favoured, w^hen larger, better places are not so 
 distinguished ? such and such in this place marked 
 out, when others are left ? Why is so weak, so 
 worthless a creature made use of, and others who 
 are better not employed .? Oh ! my dear sister, I 
 am constrained to say. Lord, why am I chosen ? 
 and see no other answer can be returned, but, 
 
 Lord, because it seems good in thy sight. To 
 him be all the glory. 
 
 " But I have now wrote so much of these things, 
 
 1 have left scarce room to say any thing else. Let 
 me just tell you we are all well as yet, but the 
 small-pox is come into town, and we are daily 
 expecting to be tried with it. All our's is the 
 Lord's, and let him do as he pleases. We join 
 in most affectionate respects to you and brother. 
 The Lord be with you in the needful hour, and 
 in every other hour, and be better than all your 
 fears. Trust him with your all, with whom you 
 have trusted your soul. Farewell ; in tho 
 Lord, yours, 
 
 « Risdon Darracott," 
 
82 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 As the heart of the good man was full of his 
 success, he sunt a similar account to Dr. Dod- 
 dridge, which drew from him the following re- 
 p]y. 
 
 " JVorthampton, March 30, 1747. 
 
 " My very dear friend, 
 *' I thank you, and above all, I thank God for 
 the charming contents of your letter, which I 
 have this evening received, and which was a 
 most reviving cordial for me, after I came out of 
 the pulpit, where I have been ending my ser- 
 mons on the parables for this year, concluding 
 this night those on the prodigal son, which I 
 hope I have not been prosecuting without much 
 blessing from that gracious Saviour by whom it 
 was uttered. I have been bowing my knees to 
 the Father of all mercy, to return him my most 
 unfeigned thanks for the signal honour he is 
 pleased to confer upon you, and for the, I think, 
 almost unparalleled encouragement he is giving 
 to your ministry, very far beyond what I can pre- 
 tend to. But when I consider how very little I 
 deserve, I rather wonder that I am not left total- 
 ly destitute of all success, than that all my wish- 
 es are not answered. I rejoice to observe the 
 humility with which you express yourself in the 
 midst of all. 'Tis by the grace of God you are 
 what you are, both with respect to ability, zeal, 
 and success. 'Tis my hearty prayer that all the 
 gifts, graces, and blessings of God's holy Spirit, 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 83 
 
 may more and more be made to abound towards 
 you. 
 
 " I am particularly pleased with the account 
 you give me of writing letters to some of your 
 people with such good success. Perhaps it may 
 put me upon doing the like. God has made use 
 of your letters to quicken, as w^ell as to comfort 
 me, and will by it, I doubt not, quicken my 
 prayers for you. Let yours for me, 1 beseech 
 you, be continued." 
 
 Mr. Darracott could say, as Dr. Doddridge did 
 in this letter, that his pecuniary embarrassments 
 increased with his prosperity in the work of the 
 Lord. For in the year 1748, the hospitality 
 which his generous soul practised as a pas^toral 
 duty, was so far beyond his income, that it be- 
 came necessary to provide some remedy. The 
 relief was .instantly afforded. He said with pious 
 gratitude, " Never have I seen so much of the 
 kindness of Providence. He has raised up friends 
 unsought, and indeed unheard of, especially a 
 French merchant at Plymouth. The heads of 
 my people came generously forward to consult, 
 and offer their help to raise my salary. They 
 have already, this last quarter, raised it consider- 
 ably, and laid such a scheme to be pursued for 
 the future, as will be much for its augmentation. 
 The young people, both men and women, have 
 made a handsome subscription." Who w^ould 
 not regret to see such a heart as Mr. Darracott 
 possessed, distressed and withdrawn from his 
 nobler pursuits by worldly cares.'' 
 
84 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 At this period of his life, he undertook the 
 painful task of travelling to collect money, in 
 order to defray the expenses of enlarging the 
 place of worship in which he preached. The task, 
 however, was rendered less odious to him than it 
 has proved to many, by the general prepossession 
 in his favour, which the extraordinary success of 
 his ministry had produced. 
 
 He wrote thus to his friends at home : " God 
 has wonderfully succeeded me. You will be sur- 
 prised to hear what God has wrought ! What 
 may we not expect, when the Lord is on our side ! 
 In Bristol, cases are so frequent, that it was 
 thought I should get little : but the enlargement 
 of a house, by reason of so many coming from the 
 established church, is a thing so peculiar at this 
 time, especially when the dissenting interest in 
 most places is sinking, that many give to it, who 
 had resolved to give no more. Indeed the case, 
 perhaps, has not its like in the nation : about two 
 hundred come to the place, more than when I 
 first came, and nearly one hundred and twenty 
 communicants are added to it in seven years." 
 
 Those cases which were then interesting by 
 their rarity, are now happily very frequent, so that 
 they fail to attract attention in consequence of 
 their perpetual recurrence. To the letter of 
 Darracott, his biographer would contrast one 
 lately received from a valued friend. " I am just 
 returned from a missionary journey. It gave me 
 great pleasure to observe, that in almost every 
 place, the congregations are flourishing, both at 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 85 
 
 to religion and numbers ; and that the ministers 
 are active. In some places, they had lately been 
 enlarging, and in others, were now enlarging 
 
 their places of worship. Mr. D , at H , 
 
 has, in twenty years, raised from the foundation, a 
 congregation of eight hundred people. Village- 
 preaching was the grand instrument. Out of 
 
 his has sprung another congregation at C , a 
 
 village about six miles distant, which has now a 
 
 minister of its own. At W , in Norfolk, 
 
 where, four or five years ago, there were not 
 three hundred people, I assisted at the opening 
 after an enlargement, which will contain five 
 hundred ihore. This has been by the ministry 
 
 of Mr. A , a young man, in the space of three 
 
 years. Mr. C , of A , is enlarging his 
 
 place to hold two hundred and fifty more, which 
 
 is the utmost extent of their ground. Mr. S , 
 
 of C , is enlarging his too. Mr. D , of 
 
 B , is a very efficient minister. The congre- 
 gation has been doubled in his time, and a new 
 place of worship built, which will contain eight 
 hundred people. These things shew us what 
 may be done, and furnish powerful motives to 
 increased exertions for extending the boundaries 
 of the Redeemer's kingdom. Stir up all your 
 neighbours to seek the like things in their con- 
 gregations." Happy are your eyes that they see, 
 what Darracott, with many other excellent men, 
 desired to see but saw not. 
 
 Mr. Darracott's enlarged heart, which panted 
 for the salvation of men to the ends of the 
 8 
 
86 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 earth, took a lively interest in the triumphs of 
 religion wherever it was enjoyed, and by what- 
 ever instrument it was produced. This intro- 
 duced him to the acquaintance of all the most 
 honoured servants of Christ in his day ; and early 
 in the year 1750, he received a visit from the 
 apostolic Whitefield, who was then on his way to 
 embark for America. 
 
 In a letter to Lady Huntingdon, Whitefield says, 
 " at Wellington, I lay at the house of Mr. Darra- 
 cott, a flaming successful preacher of the gospel, 
 and who, I think, may justly be styled The Star in" 
 THE West. He hath suffered much reproach, the 
 common lot of all that are owned in the Lord's 
 vineyard, and, in the space of three months, he 
 hath lost three lovely children ; two of them died, 
 the Saturday evening before the sacrament was 
 to be administered. But weeping did not hinder 
 sowing, he preached the next day, and adminis- 
 tered as usual : our Lord strengthened him, and, 
 for his three children, hath given him above 
 thirty spiritual ones, and he is in a likely way of 
 many more. He hath ventured his all for Christ, 
 and last week a saint died, who left him and his 
 heirs two hundred pounds in land. Did ever any 
 one trust in the Lord and was forsaken ? At his 
 place, I began to take the field for the spring. 
 At a very short warning a multitude of souls 
 assembled, and the bread of life, that cometh 
 down from heaven, was dispensed amongst them." 
 Of this visit Mr. Darracott sent the following 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 87 
 
 narrative to his kind friends at Poundsford Park, 
 near Taunton. 
 
 " Wellington, JVov. 7. 
 " Dear and much-esteemed Madam, 
 
 " I send this to you, assured that to your 
 spirit and temper nothing is so grateful as to hear 
 of the prosperity of our dear Lord's kingdom ; 
 and of this I bless God I can now write you, in 
 the remarkable entrance the Lord was pleased to 
 give to his eminent servant, the Rev. Mr. White- 
 field, lately amongst us. He came hither, last 
 Saturday was fortnight, with a design of going 
 on to Exeter that day. But we entreated him 
 to stay ; at length he inclined to, on which 
 I immediately gave notice that he would preach 
 in the evening, at six o'clock in my meeting- 
 house ; and though it was a very rainy day, and 
 the notice but short, the house was so crowded, 
 even at the doors and windows, that at the lowest 
 computation there was a thousand people. Such 
 a crowd, with the profound silence and the lights 
 we had in the house, made it solemn. But to 
 see how the people were melted all in tears, was 
 more affecting. 
 
 " He preached from those words, « Beginning, 
 at Jerusalem,' which was the charge our Saviour 
 gave his apostles, when he sent them forth into 
 all nations to preach his gospel, that they should 
 first preach it in Jerusalem, that wicked city, and 
 make the first offer of pardon through his blood, 
 to those vile miscreants that had so lately shed it. 
 
88 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 From whence he drew this proposition, " that the 
 dear Lord Jesus Christ would have the vilest 
 sinners to be saved," and applied it in such a 
 moving manner, as melted down some of the 
 most stout-hearted sinners there. I hope it was 
 the Lord's passover night, when many consciences 
 were sprinkled with his precious blood. 
 
 " However, it was but the earnest of greater 
 things done on the following Sabbath. Mr. 
 Whitefield gave out that he would preach the 
 next day, at eight in the morning, and at four in 
 the afternoon. Because he would not interfere 
 with the public worship any where ; and though 
 it was so early the next morning, there were 
 hundreds stood at the doors and windows, who 
 could not get in. He preached a sermon from 
 those words of our Lord's to the blind man whom 
 he cured of his blindness, * Dost thou believe on 
 the Son of God ?' which seemed to affect the 
 people, and especially those of the richer sort, 
 more than that in the evening ; at four, he 
 preached again from those words, ' Old things 
 are passed away, and all things are become new,' 
 when there was such a concourse of people came 
 together, that he was obliged to preach in a field 
 adjacent to the meeting-house. There was then 
 thought to be four thousand people, and still the 
 greatest reverence and seriousness I ever saw in 
 any of our public assemblies, and the word came 
 with such power that, look where I would, I saw 
 people affected. 
 
 '« Surely the Lord God is with this servant of 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 89 
 
 his, or else whence this power in his preaching ? 
 was it ever known that any mere man could open 
 a sinner's heart, and melt down the obstinate 
 will ? When men are pinched to the heart, and 
 cry out, ' what shall I do to be saved ?' is this the 
 effect of any human power ? No, Lord, this is 
 thy own doing, for ' 'tis marvellous in our eyes,' 
 and to thee we give the glory, while we are re- 
 joicing in the instrument. For my own part, I 
 am not afraid to say I received him as an angel 
 of the Lord ; I felt myself strengthened by him, 
 and enjoyed the sweetest Sabbath in all my life, 
 in my joint work with him.. I preached, at our 
 usual time, to a greater number than ever before, 
 and I think with more power and success. I only 
 add, our w^hole tov/n seemed highly delighted with 
 him, and scarce any, openly at least, speak against 
 him. My dear wne, who vras once prejudiced 
 again^st him, thinks now she loves him more than 
 I do. He is, I believe, now at Bideford. I wish you 
 could see him, I am sure you would immediately 
 discern that spirit in him, wiiich would make you 
 value him. I expect him a longer time in his 
 return from the west, v/hen he will go to Taun- 
 ton, whither Mr. Fawcett has invited him. And 
 may God open for him a large door there, and 
 wherever he preaches the gospel." 
 
 Such scenes as Mr. Darracott here records, 
 would have made ordinary minds jealous. But 
 eminent piety produces true magnarximity. The 
 voice of heaven pronounced John Baptist, the 
 
 8* 
 
 f 
 
i 
 
 90 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 greatest that ever was born of woman, and he it 
 was who saw the rising honours of his successor 
 with unenvying complacency, saying, " he must 
 increase, but I must decrease. The man who is 
 truly awake to the divine glory, and the interests 
 of the church, will exult in seeing these objects 
 secured, though it may be by means which 
 will eclipse his fame. The language of our 
 hearts should be, perish the honour of the 
 creature, live the glory of the Saviour. 
 
 But the sight exhibited, in the burying-ground 
 adjoining to Mr. Darracott's place of worship, 
 where the faithful pastor was seen sitting at the 
 feet of one whom he had invited to preach to the 
 flock, in the hope, that the stranger would succeed 
 where he had failed, was supremely honourable to 
 him, who sacrificed his own importance to their 
 salvation. While many, who stood aloof from 
 Whitefield, and nibbled at his fame, saw their own 
 glory lost, in the ruin of their congregations ; 
 Darracott enjoyed, in the prosperity of his flock, 
 the highest honour and delight, next to the ap- 
 probation of God. Thus the Saviour says, " Him 
 that honoureth me, I will honour, and th©y that 
 despise me, shall be lightly esteemed ;" for if we 
 take care of Christ's honour, he will take care 
 of ours. 
 
 In the autumn of the following year, 1751, he 
 received ^ visit from another eminent man, in 
 very different circumstances. Dr. Doddridge 
 his revered tutor, who was now on the verge of 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARftACOTT. 91 
 
 the grave, being advised to take a voyage to 
 Lisbon, spent, on his way to Falmouth, a day 
 v^^ith his beloved pupil. Mr. Darracott was the 
 last friend he visited in his native country, and 
 it may be easily conceived that the sight of such 
 a disciple, in the zenith of his usefulness, af- 
 forded exquisite delight to him who had trained 
 him up for the ministry. The Doctor had 
 indeed, been accustomed to call the minister of 
 Wellington " his crown of rejoicing," and others 
 had revered the tutor for the sake of the pupil. 
 Mr. Walker, of Truro, once wrote to Mr. Darra-» 
 cott thus : " I have not your warm heart : 
 Doddridge was not my tutor. Dear man ! I love 
 him more, since I have known you." 
 
 Mr. Darracott on a review of this visit, ex- 
 claimed, " Dear worthy man ! How shall I men- 
 tion him in the circumstances in which he is ? 
 Ever since he was here, my thoughts have fol- 
 lowed him. He came here, Sept. 22, in the 
 evening, and went away next morning, about 
 ten. He had a delightful Sabbath, he told me ; 
 he heard dear Mr. Pearsall in the morning, and 
 then took his leave of public ordinances with 
 these words (Ps. xlii. 4.), and wept much. The 
 morning he left us, he was in a happy frame, 
 and had joys, which he said were even too great 
 for his feeble body to sustain. He seemed 
 weaker than when I left him at Bideford ; most 
 thought he would not be able to bear the voyage ; 
 however he has now tried it. He got to Falmouth, 
 on Saturday, about seven in the evening, and on 
 
92 MEMOIRS 01* DARRACOTT. 
 
 ' the Monday morning, he went on board. His 
 servant told me he was very weak still, and took 
 leave of him as if he should see him no more." 
 Of the death of his tutor, Mr. Darracott was 
 speedily informed by a letter from Dr. Cantley, 
 his physician, at Lisbon. 
 
 The friendship between these two devoted 
 servants of Christ, was highly honourable to both. 
 Darracott paid a willing homage to the literary 
 eminence of his tutor ; who felt himself honoured 
 and blessed in the superior usefulness of this 
 
 'favourite pupil. Very lovely and pleasant were 
 they in their lives, and in death they were not 
 long divided. For, though Doddridge consoled 
 himself in the prospect of death, with the hope 
 that one whom he had trained up for the ministry, 
 would long survive him to carry on the work, 
 now dropping from his tremulous hands, it 
 seemed good to Him, who forms polished instru- 
 ments, but can do without them, to call away 
 Darracott, soon to rejoin his honoured friend in 
 the mansions of immortal bliss. 
 
 In the month of March, 1752, Mr, Darracott 
 paid a visit to Kidderminster, where his old 
 friend and fellow-student, Mr. Fawcett had suc- 
 ceeded to the charge of the church, founded by 
 Richard Baxter. These two brethren in work 
 and in spirit, exchanged, for the mutual edification 
 of their respective charges. Mr. Darracott was 
 welcomed to the house of his affectionate corres- 
 pondent, Joseph Williams, with an ardour which 
 
MEMOIRS OP DARRACOTT. 93 
 
 will be best expressed by himself. In a letter to 
 Mrs. Darracott, he says, 
 
 " Kidderminster, March 25, 1752. 
 " Dear Madam, 
 
 "As what I shall say will cost you nothing, it 
 is an inducement to put pen to paper, and try to 
 say something to whom I owe so much obligation, 
 which otherwise would be a dear groat's worth. 
 I was deeply in debt before, which is now swelled 
 to a mighty sum, by the valuable and important 
 loan you so readily, so cheerfully, have lent us, 
 and, though but for a few weeks, at the expense 
 of so much self-denial. I scarcely knew another 
 man upon earth, since the dear Dr. Doddridge 
 is gone to heaven, at least not another in Europe, 
 since dear Mr. Whitefield is gone to America, 
 who merits so cordial a welcome to my house, 
 my arms, my heart, or who could impart to me, 
 by his presence, so much pious joy, as dear Mr. 
 Darracott : and yet, through the smiles of an 
 indulgent Providence, I am not destitute of 
 many very dear and desirable Christian friends. 
 Nor yet do I know the minister, who, in the 
 absence of our dear pastor, is more esteemed 
 and beloved by the body of our society, at least, 
 the more serious part of them. My joy is 
 still increased, by the daily accession of joy he 
 inspires into the breast of my dear other self, 
 and Miss Molly Darracott, yea, and into every 
 servant. 
 
 " Nor can I imagine, that an angel from heaven, 
 should one of the shining host deign, in a visible 
 
94 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 form, to visit my habitation, could be so agree- 
 able a guest, for he would rather terrify than 
 cheer me by his presence, whereas this dear man 
 diffuses a constant serenity and joy all around 
 him. Before he came, my joy was full, and not 
 a little increased by my dear Theodosia, hea- 
 ven's last best gift ; but now indeed I have, to 
 use our blessed Saviour's words, ' good measure 
 pressed down, and running over,' given into my 
 bosom. 
 
 " I am hereby led to think — O what will the 
 society of heaven be ! No doubt the love and 
 favour of God, the smiles of the glorious Ema- 
 nuel, will be the heaven of heaven ; and yet the 
 society of glorious angels, and perfected spirits 
 of just men, affords a delicious prospect. O 
 what will it be, to be called unto the marriage- 
 supper of the Lamb 1 What will it be to sit 
 down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, with 
 Moses, David, Paul, Peter, John, Baxter, Dod- 
 dridge, the general assembly, and church of the 
 first-born in the kingdom of our Father ! There 
 my dear Darracott, my late dear Phebe, my pre- 
 sent dear Jane, and you and I, and numbers of 
 our dearest friends who are gone before, or will 
 follow after, shall enjoy one another's company 
 in such a manner, and to such advantage, as in 
 the present state, we neither can conceive nor 
 sustain. Haste that dear day, when there shall 
 be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor 
 any more pain ! 
 
 " But my time is filled up, before my paper. 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 95 
 
 May these find you, dear madam, walking in the 
 comforts of the Holy Ghost, who are daily walking 
 in the fear of the Lord. May that heavenly guest 
 abundantly make up the sweetness and joy, which 
 the absence of your dearest earthly comforter 
 must needs subtract. May his presence and soft 
 whispers cheer you night and day, and guardian 
 angels make you and yours their daily care. 
 Above, or amidst all, may the grace of Him that 
 hung on the tree be with your spirit. In him I 
 am, with tenders of dear respect, and under man- 
 ifold obligations, dear madam, your obliged hum- 
 ble servant, 
 
 " Joseph Williams." 
 
 The laborious application of mind required to 
 preach incessantly to the same people, made it 
 necessary for Mr. Darracottto seek the relaxation 
 produced by a change of scene, which admitted of 
 preaching sermons already composed, to an au- 
 dience to whom they would be new. When 
 such measures are adopted, with a view to the 
 Redeemer's service and the edification of his 
 church, they are eminently conducive to the use- 
 fulness of ministers. The mind, which, by the 
 perpetual recurrence of the same scenes and 
 duties, was beginning to lose its elasticity, feels 
 additional stimulus in a new circle ; and the man 
 who, adding the charm of novelty to that of emi- 
 nence, attracted attention at Kidderminster, re- 
 turned again to Wellington, to appear at once a 
 new preacher and an old friend. 
 
96 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 But the relaxation of Mr. Darracott was not 
 idleness. He passed his time at Kidderminster, 
 not in festive entertainments, which afford fewer 
 pleasures than regrets, but in more abundant and 
 diversified labours for the welfare of his fellow- 
 men, which made his appear " like angel visits 
 short and far between." That this visit to Kid- 
 derminster was eminently useful, he was after- 
 wards informed by some delightful letters ; and 
 on his return home, he adopted several of the 
 plans, of which he had seen the success in the 
 congregation of his friend. For, instead of 
 returning to his own charge, dissatisfied with his 
 lot, hankering after other scenes, and indisposed 
 to the cheerful, vigorous discharge of his constant 
 duties, Mr. Darracott appeared as " a giant 
 refreshed, rejoicing as a strong man to run 
 his race." 
 
 Two causes of uneasiness, however, soon arose 
 to disturb both the pastor and the flock. Mr. 
 Darracott's growiwg family was but slenderly 
 provided for, by the congregation at Wellington, 
 and his reputation attracted invitations from other 
 churches. Thus his own mind was embarrassed, 
 both by the difficulty of providing for those who 
 were dear to him, and by the uncertainty which 
 he felt concerning the path of duty ; while his 
 flock was alarmed at the prospect of losing one 
 bound to them by so many ties, and whose place 
 it would be so difficult to fill. 
 
 In the autumn of the year, 1751, the pressing 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 97 
 
 invitation of the church at South Petherton ex- 
 cited most serious consideration, in consequence 
 of the straitened circumstances of his increas- 
 ing family. It appears that he consulted a lay 
 friend, who wrote him the following letter, after 
 haying freely expressed his opinion concerning 
 the proposed removal. 
 
 '' London, Dec. 14, 1751. 
 " Reverend and dear Sir, 
 
 " It gives me a sensible pleasure that you 
 took so kindly what I wrote, though in a stron- 
 ger light than I intended it, for I am fully per- 
 suaded you have not so learned Christ ; but, 
 nevertheless, it is ordained they that preach the 
 gospel should live by the gospel ; and where a 
 large family has not a sufficient provision, it 
 cannot fail to oppress a poor minister's spirits, 
 and create him numberless anxieties to harass 
 his mind, and weaken his hands, in his Master's 
 work ; and as I feared this was the case with 
 you, I proposed the remedy which you so mod- 
 estly refuse ; but if you fall under any difficul- 
 ties, pray don't be guilty of a culpable modesty 
 in concealing it from me. 
 
 " Oh, sir ; you have been used to such a plen- 
 tiful harvest, you cannot tell how to bear a scan- 
 ty crop ! Many, very many churches may say to 
 you, as Gideon did of the Ephraimites, * is not 
 the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better 
 than the vintage of Abiezer ?' Be not, therefore, 
 discouraged, for that would be as when a stand- 
 ard-bearer fainteth ; but pursue the excellent 
 9 
 
98 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 method you are in, even plying the throne of 
 grace, and God has promised, at evening time it 
 shall be light. 
 
 " Your ardent breathings after the conversion 
 of souls is certainly not only lawful, but lauda- 
 ble, and may what you have heard of your suc- 
 cess at Kidderminster, be only as the earnest of 
 what you are still to be favoured with. 
 
 " I am in no apprehension that you can part 
 with, or be indifferent about, the great truths of 
 the gospel, of which you have tasted the sweet- 
 ness, and felt the power in your own soul ; but I 
 know sometimes the sweetness of temper you are 
 possessed of, may, in such a manner, sheath your 
 zeal as to make a rejecter of the truth, flatter 
 himself you are not so sensible as you really are 
 of its importance ; and therefore you will forgive 
 me, that I gave you the caution. — What you did 
 say I never heard ; but a person, who is both 
 an Arminian and Arian, admired your charity 
 both in and out of the pulpit : and, not to have 
 given you a hint of it, would have been unfaith- 
 fulness to our common Lord, and to you his 
 faithful minister. 
 
 " Nothing is more abused than the word cha- 
 rity, nor more violently forced into the service 
 of error. Whenever, therefore, 1 hear it used by 
 persons that oppose the truths of the gospel, I 
 esteem it as a watch-word, to put me on my 
 guard : no wonder, then, I gave you the alarm. 
 You really have w-armed my heart with the 
 tweet, judicious, and savoury model of your 
 
MEMOIRS OF DAKKACOTT. 99 
 
 preaching, which you exhibit in your last, writ- 
 ten like a man vvho feels every sentiment of the 
 freeness and riches of divine grace, in such a 
 manner as to feast his very soul, and thus effec- 
 tually to raise him ab«ive all the frowns and dis- 
 couragements a carnal world or lifeless profes- 
 sors can cast upon him. May you every day be 
 more and more invigorated, by an abundant in- 
 crease of such spiritual sensations ; which the 
 world know nothing of, and therefore reproach. 
 
 " If you have some such worldly hearers, the 
 greater will the danger be of the serious Christian 
 being starved by your removal, which must be 
 the case, if the former have any influence in 
 choosing your successor. May infinite Wisdom 
 direct and determine your resolution ! 
 
 " I shall not forget your friend, and by remem- 
 brance of me and mine, at the throne of grace, 
 you continually lay a fresh obligation upon, dear 
 sir, your affectionate humble servant, 
 
 " Dennys De Berdt." 
 
 This letter deserves high commendation. So 
 pernicious consequences had followed from the 
 indulgence of a false candour, that it behoved all 
 who were solicitous for the glory of Christ, and 
 the dearest interest of men, to watch against it 
 with jealous care. The soul of Darracott, indeed, 
 was exposed to the appearance, only by that which 
 preserved him from the reality of indifference to 
 the orthodox creed — a heart absorbed in solici- 
 tude for the conversion of souls. This, however, 
 
100 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 rendered his friend's alarm not less justifiable or 
 commendable. 
 
 The christian in private life, who expresses to 
 a minister in a serious affectionate manner, the 
 fears entertained concerning his sentiments and 
 spirits, may do good upon a grand scale ; for he may, 
 through the shepherd, benefit the whole flock. 
 The minister who does not immediately welcome 
 such hints, is most likely to need them ; and he 
 who at first may spurn at the counsel, may, on 
 reflection, see its wisdom, and exclaim with gra- 
 titude, *' faithful are the wounds of a friend." 
 
 The opinion of the good man concerning Mr, 
 Darracott's removal would not have been equally 
 judicious, had he not himself contributed to ren- 
 der it so by assisting to maintain his family at 
 Wellington. Mr. Darracott had sunken some 
 hundreds of his own private property, since he had 
 resided at Wellington, and was now in some 
 embarrassment. A friend, to whom he had made 
 a disclosure of his affairs, immediately applied to 
 that valuable institution in London, known to 
 dissenters by the name of the Fund Board, which 
 immediately voted him five pounds as an annual 
 addition to his salary. This, with the contribu- 
 tions of private friends, enabled him to extricate 
 himself from his embarrassments. 
 
 His difficulties returned indeed, as did the in- 
 vitations of destitute churches. But, though he 
 never could resolve to leave a scene of so much 
 usefulness ; the claims of a delicate wife and ris- 
 ing family induced him at one time to think of 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 101 
 
 keeping a school. That this scheme was aban- 
 doned should excite neither surprise nor regret* 
 His ardent devotional soul bounded oft' frcjm the 
 instruction of youth in the rudiments of human 
 learning, to lead the souls of men into the heights 
 and depths of redeeming love. And if he hesi- 
 tated to leave Wellington, lest he should not be 
 60 useful elsewhere ; was it not equally to be 
 feared that the diminution of his time for pasto- 
 ral studies and labours might injure the tone of 
 his mind, and make a proportionable reduction 
 from his success in the ministry. 
 
 If some change was necessary, his removal 
 should have been preferred. To turn to secular 
 pursuits is to take away one half of the minister 
 from his present charge, and from the service of 
 religion ; but to remove to another and a larger 
 sphere, is to give him more entirely to Christ and 
 his church. 
 
 To have seen Darracott turn from employing 
 his powers almost day and night, in devising or 
 executing schemes for the salvation of men, to 
 the business of a school, which would have left 
 him but a few fragments of time to employ with 
 exhausted faculties in the exercises dearest to his 
 heart, would have been intolerable ; but to have 
 beheld him in a new and enlarged sphere, with 
 unembarrassed mind and undiminished ardour, 
 employing all his powers for Christ, would have 
 been delightful to every impartial eye, though it 
 might have been attended with some pains to the 
 people of his former charge. 
 9* 
 
102 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT* 
 
 From this lime, however, he laboured with 
 increased success at Wellington. He seemed 
 almost afraid and ashamed to speak of his pros- 
 perity, but could not iiide the divine goodness 
 within his grateful heart. *' I have nothing to 
 boast of," he says, <' being a poor, vile, unprofit- 
 able servant. Yet I must own that God is 
 deigning to favour me abundantly. I have not 
 preached for some time, but in demonstration of 
 the Spirit and in power. Fresh seals are con- 
 tinually given to my ministry." Every month he 
 received some into the church, and proposed 
 others to its communion. At one time, the whole 
 congregation v/ere under serious impressions. 
 This is what, perhaps, scarcely any other minister 
 in England has been able to say, though such 
 scenes have not been rare in America. 
 
 The following letter, written at the end of the 
 year 17 53, expresses the joy of his heart in the 
 care of Providence to his family, and the blessings 
 which crowned his ministry. 
 
 t^ I deserve, my dear sir, none of those warm 
 expressions of your esteem, and least of all do I 
 think mys3lf worthy of that distinguishing re- 
 gard rny God is showing me, in the dispensa- 
 tions of his providence ; I have reason to say, 
 with peculiar propriety, ' what am I, and what is 
 my father's house, that God should be pleased to 
 take such care of me.' He spreads my table 
 daily, and supplies my every want. Many a kind 
 friend has he given me, among vvhom I shall ever 
 gratefully acknowledge good Mr. W. I return 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 103 
 
 you my hearty thanks, for the fresh instance of 
 your love, which your present letter affords me, 
 and desire you will make them acceptable 
 to your church, at the next meeting. God who 
 is rich in bounty, plentifully requite it to you 
 and them. 
 
 " I have the ple^isure to inform you, that the 
 church here still continues to flourish, and God 
 is adding to us, almost every month, such as I 
 hope will be saved. This month twelve years, 
 I was set up as pastor, since which time, we 
 have admitted two hundred communicants want- 
 ing two ; and this week we shall take in three 
 more, and propose two, and many more are 
 upon the threshold, whom I hope God will 
 bring in. I never, at one time, saw more under 
 a serious concern of soul than at present ; many 
 have lately been joined to us from the established 
 church, and appear to be excellent Christians. 
 For these things, join with us in giving all the 
 glory to God : <' neither is he that planteth any 
 thing, nor he that watereth." The sweet concur- 
 rence of his providence and grace in favour of 
 his cause and interest among us, is what I adore, 
 though I am myself nothing. 
 
 At this time, Mr. Darracott wrote the two fol- 
 lowing letters to a friend. " A serious concern 
 about salvation spreads both in town and coun- 
 try ; and some very profligate and abandoned 
 sinners are deeply struck. We have set up a 
 charity school in a village four miles oflT. One 
 of the principal persons there, having been lately 
 
104 MKMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 concerned about his soul, chiefly by reading Dr. 
 Doddridge's " Rise and Progress," and some ma- 
 nuscript sermons of Mr. Walker's, has felt a con- 
 cern for others ; and being a single man, and of 
 gome substance, has proposed to educate a few 
 children. We have now about thirty children 
 on the list, and I have great hope that the seeds 
 of piety may be sown in their minds, and that 
 religion may enter their families, and take hold 
 of the ht;arts of the parents too. I go, once a 
 fortnight, lo preach a lecture, which is well at- 
 tended. I am going, this week, to catechise the 
 children, wliich I shall do before the people, in 
 hopes that it may impress them. It is vvith great 
 joy I tell you, that God has been pleased to touch 
 the hearts of several here, since I wrote you last, 
 one of the most notorious profligates in the place, 
 and some more reputable characters. 
 
 " A few instances of success, which God in 
 the riches of his mercy, has lately favoured mo 
 with, have comforted me greatly. One poor 
 man, particularly, who, from the grossest igno- 
 rance and stupidity, is so enlightened in the 
 knowledge of Christ, so awakened to concern 
 for his own soul and for others, as surprises us all ; 
 for, a little while ago, he could not read aline, 
 but now, after vast pains, he can read a chapter 
 in the Testament ; nor c^in he express his love to 
 that book, or the delight he feels in reading it. 
 The trials he has met with from a wicked partner 
 arc exceedingly great, while the sweet, humble, 
 and patient spirit with which he bears them is 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 105 
 
 truly wonderful. He has brought several of his 
 comrades to our private meetings, and some of 
 them appear concerned. 
 
 But what has most affected my heart, is the 
 case of a stranger who has been some time in 
 these parts. He is a young person, known by 
 the name of Dr. Vanghable ; he was born at Paris, 
 and is by education a Roman Catholic. He has 
 travelled in most parts of Europe, ^nd has been 
 in England eleven years past. He was tumbler, 
 &c. to Smith, a mountebank doctor, and, for the 
 two last years, has mounted the stage for himself. 
 He has had a stage here, for these three months, 
 and about a month ago, on a Lord's day evening, 
 he came to our place of worship ; this was the 
 first time, he says, he was ever in a dissenting 
 meeting-house. I was then preaching on the 
 parable of the lost sheep, under which sermon he 
 was so struck that he could not conceal it. He 
 came the next evening, and was more affected 
 still. Upon this, I wrote him a letter, and gave 
 him an invitation to my house, which he soon 
 accepted. I was with him alone, nearly tv/o hours, 
 and prayed with him. I found him exceedingly 
 ignorant, yet deeply concerned about his soul, 
 desirous to know what to do, and longing to leave 
 his present way of life. I have put into his hands 
 some suitable books, which he reads very care- 
 fully. 
 
 He has attended me ever since, and I have had 
 a second interview with him, by which I learn 
 that his concern increases ; and yet, I cannot but 
 
106 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 fear greatly for him, as he cannot at present dis- 
 engage himself from the stage, and is now going 
 from us into Devonshire. - He assures ms, how- 
 ever, that he will spend a Sabbath, once a fortnight, 
 with m3. His deportment on the stage, and 
 elsewhere, is quit!; changed, and he assures me 
 he would be glad to leave this way of life, could 
 he by any means get his bread ; but he was from 
 his infancy brought up to tumbling, and does not 
 know what to turn his hand to. He has a wife, 
 who is a great snare to him ; mountains of ditli- 
 culty lie in the way, but real grace will make 
 him more than conqueror." 
 
 In such scenes as these, Mr. Darracott passed 
 his days ; for, though we find on record only a 
 few singular cases, he vvas continually enjoying 
 such tokens of the divine approbation on his 
 labours. His heart was overwhelmed with de- 
 light, and he gratefully acknowledged that the 
 Fountain of bliss had indulged him with the most 
 exquisite pleasures below the skies. Nor, indeed, 
 are such honours given to any who undervalue 
 them ; for they who would taste with the Saviour 
 the pre-eminent delights of beneficence, must, 
 like him, be ready to make any sacrifice for 
 this object, and when they attain it, feel satis- 
 fied. 
 
 In the year 1755, Mr. Darracott published his 
 « Scripture marks of Salvation." They were 
 originally preached as sermons, and, having prov- 
 ed very uj^eful to many of his hearers, were by 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT, I 07 
 
 them requested in a more permanent form, that 
 the closet might revive the impressions made in 
 the church. 
 
 This little pamphlet, is warm with the devotion 
 of the writer's heart. It is in just such a strain, 
 as we might suppose distinguished the sermons, 
 which were honoured with so much success. 
 Thq Saviour and his Spirit are uppermost in the 
 mind of this writer, who turns away our attention 
 from himself, and from every other object, to fix 
 our whole power of reflection upon our own 
 heart and conscience ; that we may ascertain, 
 whether or not we have a portion in the Re- 
 deemer's love. This publication considerably in- 
 creased his correspondence, which was already 
 so extensive as to occupy a large portion of his 
 time. He sent the " Scripture Marks" into many 
 parts of England and Scotland; for, though the 
 modern tracts were not then thought of, Mr. 
 Darracott, and his pious contemporaries, were 
 diligent in distributing cheap books o.i the most 
 important subjects. 
 
 It has been already noticed, that Mr. Darracott 
 was visited with afflictions, as a counterpoise to 
 his prosperity. The loss of three children, two 
 of them in one day, deeply wounded his aflfec- 
 tionate heart. He was called, in the year 1756, 
 to resign a fourth child ; on which occasion, his 
 friends, who knew the tenderness of his feelings, 
 strove to alleviate his sorrows by their sympathy. 
 Among others, his old college companion, Mr. 
 
108 
 
 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 Pearsall, of Taunton, wrote him a letter rich in 
 consolations. His own devout submission, he 
 expressed in the following lines on the words of T 
 David, «' Be still, and know that I am God." 
 
 I. 
 
 In humble duly I would bow, 
 
 My God, before thy feet ; 
 Convinc'd whate'er thou dust is right, , 
 
 I cheerfully submit, 
 
 IT. 
 
 Thy gifts I thankfully would own, 
 
 As altogether free ; 
 And what thou tak'st, I can't dispute, 
 
 Because thou gav'st it me. 
 
 III. 
 
 Bless'd be thy name, who more hast given. 
 
 Than thou wilt ever take ; 
 Thou giv'st in covenant thyself. 
 
 Nor wilt this cov'nant break. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Assure my soul, I have a part 
 
 In such a lasting bliss ; 
 Whatever comfort thou wilt take, 
 
 I can't that blessing miss. 
 
 V. 
 
 Let all my other comforts go. 
 
 If thou, my God, remain ; 
 Happy in thee, I'll bear the loss. 
 
 Without a moment's pain. 
 
 At the commencement of the year 17 57, the 
 distresses of the poor affected Mr. Darracott so 
 powerfully, that he exerted himself with great 
 zeal in their behalf. He made a proposal to the 
 principal persons in the town, to raise a subscrip- 
 tion for their relief, to which he contributed 
 himself more largely than his own straitened 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 109 
 
 circumstances seemed to justify. The subscrip- 
 tion succeeded, beyond the expectation of every 
 one ; and when he was assisting at the parish 
 meeting for the distribution of the money, he 
 seized the opportunity to propose a society for 
 the reformation of manners, by putting into 
 execution the laws against profaneness. In the 
 speech which he delivered to induce the meeting 
 to concur, he urged the state of the nation, which 
 had lately called for a general fast, to avert the 
 judgments of heaven. He was heard with pro-, 
 found attention, and his proposal was unaniniously 
 adopted. 
 
 It was agreed to begin with executing the laws 
 against Sabbath-breaking. An abstract of these 
 was drawn up, and fixed on the doors of all 
 the places of worship, concluding with these 
 words. " Zeal for the glory of God, and the 
 honour of the Sabbath, love to our king and 
 country, and desire to avert the divine judgments 
 from us, have determined the churchwardens and 
 others to put these laws into execution against 
 all persons without distinction, whereof they 
 give this public notice." The chief men of the 
 town perambulated the streets by turns, every 
 Lord's day, to watch that no violation of the law 
 took place. 
 
 " It is delightful," says Mr. Darracott, " to 
 see the happy effects ; places of public worship 
 crowded ; ale-houses empty ; nothing done in the 
 shops of barbers ; no idle walkers in the streets ; 
 but an air of solemnity through the whole town." 
 10 
 
110 MEMOIRS or DARRACOTT. 
 
 At the close of the first Sabbath, after adopt- 
 ing these new measures, Mr. Darracott preached 
 on the words of Nehemiah, " Then contended I 
 with the nobles of Judah, and said to them, what 
 evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the Sab- 
 bath-day ?" The persons who were appointed 
 to inspect the town, took with them " Reynold's 
 Compassionate Address," which they left in ale- 
 houses, and places of evil resort. This was the 
 best part of their proceedings ; for vice is a men- 
 tal evil, which requires moral rather than physi- 
 cal remedies. All human laws against irreligion 
 prove like spiders' webs, which entangle only the 
 smaller flies, while the great offenders burst 
 through them with impunity. 
 
 About this time, a recruiting serjeant came 
 into the town, and, being a native of Scotland, 
 went to meeting. While Mr. Darracott was 
 preaching on the words of Jeremiah, " I heark- 
 ened and heard, but they spake not aright : no 
 man repented him of his wickedness, saying, 
 what have I done ? every one turneth to his 
 course as the horse rusheth into the battle ;" the 
 word pierced his heart with intolerable anguish, 
 compelling him to cry aloud " what have I 
 done ?" From that day the most delightful 
 change was manifest in all his tempers, conver- 
 sation, and deportment. 
 
 His account of his former life bore a striking 
 resemblance to that of Colonel Gardiner. After 
 a pious education, he had rushed into the paths 
 of sin, and entered the army when he was only 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. Ill 
 
 fourteen years old. He had been six and twen- 
 ty years in the military life, and had twice seen 
 his regiment cut to pieces almost to a man. He 
 had also narrowly escaped death at sea many 
 times. But all the dispensations of Providence, 
 as well as all the sermons he had heard (for, 
 amidst all his wickedness, he attended at public 
 worship) left him not only unchanged, but unim- 
 pressed ; so that he used to say, " it is not pos- 
 sible for any thing to touch my heart." 
 
 But the extraordinary influence of the Divine 
 Spirit, which attended Mr. Darracott's preaching, 
 at last effected the mighty task. Swearing, 
 drunkenness, and impious defiance of heaven, 
 were at once exchanged for prayer, praise, strict- 
 ness of morals, and fervour of devotion. He 
 stayed only three weeks in the town ; and as he 
 earnestly requested to be admitted to communion 
 with the church ; they, very properly, consented 
 to deviate so far from their usual practice as to 
 receive him, upon this short acquaintance. The 
 day before he left them, he sat down at the 
 Lord's table, to the great edification of all par- 
 ties, who exclaimed, " What hath God wrought !" 
 Mrv Darracott offered up for him a parting pray- 
 er, when the poor man fell on the neck of his 
 father in Christ, in floods of tears, blessing God 
 that he had ever seen his face. 
 
 Shortly after this occurrence, Mr. Darracott 
 received a visit from Mr. Walker, of Truro. 
 This pious clergyman came to see the good work 
 carrying on by means of his dissenting bro- 
 
112 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 ther, and to warm his own heart, by bringing it 
 near one which was a flame of fire in the Re- 
 deemer's service. How much he was delighted 
 with the scene which he beheld at Wellington, 
 he expressed in a letter to Mr. Darracott, on 
 his return. 
 
 " Truro, Dec. 15, 1757. 
 " Reverend and dear Sir, 
 
 " Why is his letter so long in coming ? you 
 have been saying. He has not forgotten us. 
 Perhaps some mischief has befallen him ; he is 
 sick, or brought into trouble. No ; the Lord be 
 praised, there is none of this. But my people, 
 my dear people, they had not seen me of so long 
 a season ; and don't you think they had much to 
 say to me, and I to them !■ I had been much 
 reproved in my absence^ for the coldness of my 
 heart, and a shameful lifelessness to call upon the 
 Lord and to sinners. O how did the zeal of 
 others reprove me ! 
 
 Well, I hope I got a little spark among you, 
 and that something like zeal is kindled in the 
 coldest heart in the world. I have to thank 
 God for his love to me at Wellington, in a spe- 
 cial manner, and desire to share always in the 
 prayers of the good people I saw there, and to 
 be especially remembered to that honest soul 
 who was so kindly my companion to Collump- 
 ton. But you are asking, how is it at Truro ? 
 are there any awakenings, since your return ? 
 Why, there were many wet eyes, last Sunday, 
 among the backsliders. This is encouragement. 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 113 
 
 The Lord may please to bless us with one har- 
 vest more. I wish 1 had more heart to pray and 
 labour for poor souls. 
 
 "My dear gir, this is our business; and how' 
 honourable, how gainful, how delightful ! Sure 
 it is the most reasonable, the highest gratifica- 
 tion, to see children begotten to God under our 
 ministry. And, methinks, an hour spent with one 
 of these little ones, whom the Lord has given 
 me, is infinitely an overpayment for all I am 
 called to suffer, for whole years, in the cause of 
 our Master. And what then will the joy be 
 hereafter ! I love to think how happy we shall 
 be in heaven together ; and all God's people with 
 us. Who, what shall separate us then from our 
 work ? *' Shall tribulation, &c. ?" 'Tis an honour 
 to have the name cast out, or to be cast out in 
 person, for Jesus and souls. To turn a soul from 
 Satan to God, my friend, O what a rich retribu- 
 tion for the loss of all things ! 
 
 " But stop, and look nearer home. Sir, I have 
 a very bad heart, which needs much establishment 
 in that faith which purifies. Could you see the 
 bottom of me, you would see every thing a 
 man would abhor, particularly pride with two 
 heads taller than the rest, I mean desire of 
 esteem, and secret self-applause. These mon- 
 sters continually thrust in their faces, which ever 
 way I look ; and wherever I am, they are sure to 
 be of the company. Pretty often, indeed, they 
 receive a stunning knock on the head ; and then I 
 seem to get rid of them a little ; but even then I 
 10* 
 
114 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 never look back, but I see they are dogging me. 
 Do you know how I may use them so roughly as 
 to be quite quit of their company ? Or is there not 
 reason to think, that they find I am still too fond 
 of them, and therefore follow me, spaniel-like, 
 though they are used like dogs ? But stop again. 
 Is not this too light on so interesting a subject ? 
 Why, I know not how, the thought of dear old 
 Williams was on my mind, and it gave me a 
 dash of his manner. 
 
 "Pray tell me ho\v you do, and how your 
 people are, especially those under impressions 
 when I was with you ; and how is dear Mrs. 
 Darracott. You must tell me every thing. I 
 have a high opinion of the work with you; and 
 to be plain, saw nothing like it in my long 
 journey. O how should the thought of what 
 God has done by you humble you ! How should 
 it make all of you fear always ; lest, being so dis- 
 tinguished, any of you, by the least misconduct or 
 compliance, should strike a dagger at once 
 through the heart of his Master, and the souls of 
 his neighbours. May I judge by myself, we are 
 all apt to be too selfish, and not to take our mea- 
 sures so much as we should, with a compassionate 
 regard to those who are without ; and who, to all 
 appearance, must lie and perish in their sins, 
 unless we help them in our respective places." 
 
 From the close of .the year 1757, may be dated 
 the termination of Mr. Darracott's most distin- 
 guished success 'y for, though he continued to 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 115 
 
 preach nearly a year afterwards, with marks of 
 divine approbation, his health began to decline 
 and his labours were necessarily abridged. 
 
 Of this he soon began to complain. When a ' 
 minister's heart is not in the right place, his flock 
 will perceive the declension of which he is in- 
 sensible ; but one who is alive to the great ob- 
 jects of his ministry, will be the first to see and 
 feel, when it is not with them as in former days. 
 In a letter to a friend, Mr. Darracott says, 
 
 " Wellington, Jan. S, 1757. ^ 
 " I have not seen that success, the past year, 
 which I have known in some former years, but I 
 hope something was done ; and, at the conclusion, 
 a sweet young creature, about seventeen, was 
 proposed to our communion, which gave me 
 great delight, and may attract others. I have 
 also had some certain accounts of my little books 
 being blessed. Some of them are in Newgate, 
 and have been useful to some poor condemned 
 malefactors there, who are thought to have ob- 
 tained mercy of the Lord. j 
 " Mr. V/alker writes last week, from Truro, »' " 
 thus : < My dear friend will rejoice with me in 
 the new field of usefulness which the Lord has 
 opened to me, by the coming of two hundred 
 soldiers into the town. My heart was greatly 
 stirred up towards them, and so were many of my 
 dear society ; and the Spirit has been won- 
 derfully poured out upon these poor creatures ; 
 insomuch that no less than one hundred of them 
 
116 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 have been awakened, and this, in about three 
 weeks. The work has been deep with many of 
 them ; insomuch that twenty of them are so 
 promising, that I shall put them together in a 
 society." 
 
 Thus he consoled himself, when he feared his 
 own usefulness was declining, by turning to be- 
 hold the succes of a brother's labours. This is 
 exactly the spirit which becomes a minister of 
 Christ ; for he that can enjoy no prosperity but 
 that which attends his own ministry, has reason 
 to fear, that notwithstanding his usefulness, he is 
 in a great measure preaching himself, and not 
 Christ Jesus the Lord. To warn his disciples 
 against confidence in their success, without due 
 regard to their spirit, our Lord said to those who 
 exclaimed " Lord, even the devils are subject to 
 us through thy name ; in this rejoice not, that the 
 devils are subject to you, but rather rejoice that 
 your names are written in heaven. For many 
 shall say to me in the last day. Lord, Lord, have 
 we not prophesied in thy name ? and in thy name 
 cast out devils, and in thy name done many won- 
 derful works ? And then will I profess to them, 
 I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work 
 iniquity." 
 
 After an attack of illness, he wrote, " I hope 
 my return to life has been in mercy, especially to 
 some persons in Broadway, where I have lately 
 bestowed a little labour that seems to be attended 
 with a remarkable blessing. I went, by appoint- 
 ment, last Sunday evening, to give them a lecture ; 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 117 
 
 many seemed affected : but, in conversation and 
 religious exercises at the house where I lodged, it 
 was a more affecting season still. They desired 
 me to stay and preach the following evening, and 
 I was not very reluctant, as I saw some impression 
 made : a greater number were gathered together, 
 and the word still more blessed. Many, again 
 followed me to my lodgings, where we had ano- 
 ther affecting season. I vi^as called upon, next 
 morning, to visit a person that was under great 
 distress, hy the word he had heard the night be- 
 fore : talking and praying with him greatly af- 
 fected me, and I left them, with much satisfac- 
 tion in what I saw." 
 
 Thus Mr. Darracott enlarged his sphere, by 
 visiting the adjacent towns and villages, to seek 
 for the sheep of Christ wherever he could find 
 them. He was regarded as the affectionate 
 friend of the souls of men, and all who began to 
 feel solicitous for their salvation, looked to him 
 for counsel and aid. What distinction can be 
 more exalted ? But, as the post of honour is the 
 post of labour ; it brought upon him a load of 
 engagements, which nothing but love to the work 
 could make pleasant. 
 
 That his own peculiar charge had no reason to 
 complain of having but half their pastor's heart, 
 or of suffering injury from the extension of his 
 labours in every direction, the following letter 
 will prove. 
 
 "Dec. 24, 1757. 
 
 " I have lately found more ardent desires to be 
 
113 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT* 
 
 useful, and my dear people have been more prayer- 
 Hil, for a blessing. And, I do think, more has been 
 done in a way of awakening, in two or three 
 weeks, than I recollect for this twelvemonth. It 
 is principally, too, among the young women. I 
 had more than twenty such with me, last Sabbath 
 evening : they meet and pray together. My dear 
 daughter is one of them, and fills my heart with 
 joy. I cheerfully hope the impressions will not 
 be all like the early dew or morning cloud ; 
 though, I must own, I have seen so much of im- 
 pressions dying away, that I cannot be so san- 
 guine as I have been." 
 
 He had now increased the number of his com- 
 municants, from twenty-eight, to nearly three 
 hundred. Several hundreds more had been deeply 
 impressed by his preaching, but some of them had 
 been removed by Providence ; and the religion of 
 others proved like the morning cloud or the 
 early dew that hasteth away. The place of wor- 
 ship, though it had been enlarged, was still too 
 small ; for numbers stood at the doors. The coun- 
 try around saw, with astonishment, multitudes 
 flock into the town, eager to hear the word which 
 they formerly despised. 
 
 But this success was chiefly among the poor ; 
 for the greater part of the rich, whether among 
 the original members of his own congregation, 
 the inhabitants of the town, or the residents in 
 the adjacent villages, despised his preaching as 
 mere enthusiasm. He was, however, in the 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 119 
 
 highest degree a rational preacher ; for he care- 
 fully sought to ascertain the sentiments of the 
 divine mind, the source of reason, and preached 
 them with the fervour vi^hich they should excite 
 in all reasonable minds. The purity of Mr. 
 Darracott's motives, was seen by the satisfaction 
 he felt in his sudcess among the poor, amidst 
 all the contempt of the rich. His own mind 
 was formed for more elevated society, and his 
 manners procured him a respectful welcome 
 among some select friends of rank and title. But 
 he laboured, like his Master, to preach glad 
 tidings to the poor, and was satisfied with being 
 able, like him, to rejoice and say, " I thank thee, 
 O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou 
 hast hidden these things from the wise and pru- 
 dent, and revealed them to babes ; even so, 
 Father, for so it seemeth good in thy sight." 
 
 The time now drew near that this faithful ser- 
 vant should return, to give up his account to him 
 that sent him. He was, therefore, previously tried 
 to see whether he could suffer as nobly as he had 
 laboured for God ; and the concluding scene 
 exhibits an example of passive religion, even 
 more eminent than the specimen of active devo- 
 tion which his life has aflforded. U ministers 
 have already been taught how to live. Christians 
 may now come and learn how to die. 
 
120 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 CHAPTER IV, 
 
 The first attack of the disorder which removed 
 Mr. Darracott from this world, was in the year 
 1757, but from this he recovered. His head, 
 however, was so severely affected by the com- 
 plaint, that his labours, the delight of his heart, 
 were much impeded. To such men as Mr. 
 Darracott, nothing is so fatiguing as inaction. 
 Like angels, they enjoy the activity to which 
 their Maker calls them, and only dread the chain 
 that binds their hands, the clay that impedes their 
 wings. It was, therefore, regarded by the pastor 
 of Wellington as a favour, that, when his exertions 
 were diminished, he was soon called home to the 
 more vital existence of the blessed. 
 
 In the middle of the following year, the attacks 
 became more violent. Four times, in eight days, 
 he was seized in an alarming manner. The 
 first time was, on the morning of the Lord's day, 
 which distressed him with the apprehension of 
 not being able to feed his flock. He went through 
 the services of the day, however, with more than 
 ordinary solemnity, if with less than his usual 
 animation. His audience were much affected ; 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 121 
 
 for he told them he felt all the solemn awe of a 
 man about to put off this tabernacle. 
 
 There is a calm seriousness more impressive 
 than the most rapturous animation. In this, the 
 celebrated President Edwards, of New England, 
 excelled. Too feeble to give effect to his compo- 
 sitions by physical means ; he supplied every 
 defect by the seriousness of eternity, which re- 
 minded his hearers of such scenes of transcendent 
 devotion, as his own memoirs exhibit. This, 
 however, must have been peculiarly impressive 
 to the congregation at Wellington ; as they had 
 been accustomed to a manner, which formed a 
 perfect contrast to the stillness of death ; for it 
 has been shrewdly observed, that Mr. Darracott 
 looked " like one that lived upon live things." 
 
 The last of the repeated attacks which Mr. 
 Darracott suffered, was in the pulpit, on the fol- 
 lowing Friday, when he was a second time led 
 out of the congregation by some of his afflicted 
 flock. He recovered again so far, as to preach 
 on the following Lord's-day, on the words which 
 afforded him peculiar consolation : " Although 
 my house be not so with God ; yet hath he made 
 with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all 
 things and sure : this is all my salvation, and all 
 my desire, although he make me not to grow." 
 
 Under the impression of approaching morta- 
 lity, he wrote to a friend, with devout submission,. 
 11 
 
122 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 expressing a joyful hope of soon being for ever 
 with Christ. 
 
 On the eleventh of July, 1 759, he made a kind 
 of codicil to his will, giving directions concern- 
 ing his funeral, and other affairs connected with 
 his death. This instrument, instead of the beau- 
 tiful, neat hand, which distinguishes his former 
 manuscripts, discovers the tremulousness of death, 
 which renders it scarcely legible. He so far 
 recovered, as to afford his family and flock a 
 gleam of hope. But he complains of dragging 
 on heavily, in his private devotions, and public 
 labours. 
 
 The first confident expectation of death which 
 Mr. Darracott expressed, was when a month 
 elapsed, without any addition to his church. 
 " Now," said he, " I believe I am near my end : 
 my work is done, and I am going home to my 
 rest." He doubtless had, as the Apostle says, 
 « the sentence of death in himself," which jus- 
 tified his conclusion ; for the mere suspension 
 of ordinary success would not have proved that 
 he was near his home. Many have had what 
 they called several harvests ; seasons, in which 
 they reaped with gladness, the fruit of the seed 
 which they had long ago sown in tears. But it 
 was the privilege of Darracott to have but one 
 harvest; which lasted through almost all his life, 
 and to go quickly home at the close of it, to re- 
 ceive the plaudit of the Lord of harvest. 
 
 With this impression of approaching death, (to 
 him no gloomy one) he administered the Lord's 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 123 
 
 supper, for the last time, Dec. 3, 1758. On the 
 evening of that day, he composed a meditation, 
 which he enclosed in a letter to a friend in Lon- 
 don. It furnishes a fine specimen of that pecu- 
 liar kind of devotional exercise, often recommen- 
 ded in the Scriptures, but unhappily little known 
 or practised among christians. This meditation 
 breathes the language of an exalted Christian on 
 the borders of Paradise. 
 
 " Is this the voice of my dear Lord ? ' Surely 
 I come (Juickly.' 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 burthens, 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, 
 
124 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 all my attending divine ordinances, could never 
 entirely cure me of : yea, will perfectly and for 
 ever 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 pre- 
 sence 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 un- 
 speakable and full of glory.' 
 
 " This world has now no more charms to at- 
 tract 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 mortali- 
 ty, 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 delight- 
 ful communion shall be uninterrupted, as well as 
 perfect, and our society be broken up no more 
 for ever. 
 
 " 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 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 125 
 
 that word, " Christ is all in all ?" He was so 
 then, indeed, and he will ever be so. 
 
 '< Mourn not thgit I go to Jesus first. It is 
 but a little while, and you will come after. And 
 O ! with what joy, think you, shall 1 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 an- 
 other in heaven, never to part more. Till then, 
 adieu ! and know, 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 tribu- 
 11* 
 
126 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 lation 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 pro- 
 mise, 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. Provi- 
 dence, eternal and mighty Providence, has under- 
 taken 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,' iliy 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 com- 
 fortable seasons of grace I have enjoyed with you. 
 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 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 127 
 
 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 uncon- 
 verted state, nor meet me in that state, at the 
 day of judgment. 
 
 '' And now, farewell praying and preaching ! 
 my most delightful work ! Farewell, ye Sab- 
 baths and sacraments, and all divine ordinances ! 
 I have now done with you all, and you have done 
 all that was to be done for me. As the manna, 
 and the rock, in the wilderness, you have sup- 
 plied me with sweet refreshment 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 for ever 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 ! 
 
12 8 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 Farewell to earth and all terrestrial scenes ! Ye 
 are now no more ! An infinitely brighter pros- 
 pect opens to me !" 
 
 " '^ee the guardian angels nigh, 
 Wait to waft my soul on high ! 
 See the golden gates display'd ! 
 See the crown to grace my head ! 
 See a flood of sacred light, 
 Which shall yield no more to night ! 
 Transitory world, farewell ! 
 Jesus calls with liim to dwell." 
 
 Doddridge's Hymns. 
 
 But, while his affliction seemed only to afford 
 him the lively anticipation of heaven, it alarmed 
 the fears of many Christian friends, who poured 
 in their letters of sympathy and consolation. 
 Among the rest, his brother Pearsall wrote, " I am 
 distressed for thee, my brother. I cannot but be 
 afflicted till I hear of your restoration. I yet 
 bless God, that my lamentation is not over a 
 dead friend, as David's was. May he who 
 has so often raised up from beds of sickness, 
 raise you up, and bring you forth as gold. I pity 
 poor Mrs. Darracott under her heavy loads of 
 trouble ; the clouds so often returning after the 
 rain." 
 
 Another wave seemed to bear him towards the 
 shore again ; for his disorder, for some time, was so 
 far alleviated that he was able to write to a friend 
 as if in expectation of returning to life and useful- 
 ness : this, which was his last letter, was dated 
 January 2, 1759. It is as follows : 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 129 
 
 «' My dear friend, 
 
 " Though I am hardly yet able to hold my pen, 
 I am willing to give you this satisfaction, that I 
 am recovering, by writing, though ever so short 
 a letter. I have been longer in pain than I re- 
 member ever to have been before, and for some 
 part of the time, it has been sharp pain indeed. 
 But for ever blessed be the rich goodness of my 
 God, I hope I have experienced his supporting 
 and comforting power towards me. So that, 
 though the flesh could not but groan, the spirit 
 did not murmur, but sweetly bowed in submis- 
 sion, as believing my heavenly Father had no 
 other than merciful designs in all, and whatever 
 was the issue, of which I was never more indif- 
 ferent, it would be all well. 
 
 " And now it has pleased him, who has called 
 home his eminent servant Hervey, to continue a 
 little longer in the world, his unworthy servant 
 Darracott. O that it may quicken me, to be 
 found more faithful and zealous in his service : 
 then, too, shall my dismission be signed, in the 
 appointed time and way, and I shall follow them 
 who have been my dear delighful companions, to 
 live for ever with them, and with that Jesus whom 
 we loved, and in whom we were united. 
 
 " I have had a solitary Sabbath, besides the 
 loss of some other seasons, I used to enjoy in 
 these holydays. Blessed be God, I can look 
 back upon these times with pleasure now, in 
 my confinement, and say, Lord, thou knowest 
 I have loved thy service, and the place of thy 
 
130 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 habitation has been sweet to me. Your letter to 
 my daughter, this morning, affects me tenderly. 
 Be incessant in your prayers for me, and join 
 your praises with mine. Accept our joint love, 
 and be assured, in all the languor of nature, I 
 still feel the flame of our religious friendship 
 burns strong, nor shall death quench it for ever ; 
 ever shall I be yours. Pray for me, that if it be 
 the will of God, and our dear Lord Jesus, I may 
 be strengthened to go forth next Lord's day. 
 
 " Risdon Darracott." 
 He had written, the day before, to his friend 
 Mr. Fawcett, of Kidderminster, saying, " when- 
 ever it shall please God to take me away, as I 
 hope you will survive me, I shall leave an office of 
 friendship to be performed by you, which you 
 will not deny me, especially as you will see the 
 glory of God, and the good of souls, are the great 
 things I aim at. I find somewhat infinitely sooth- 
 ing and cheering, in these four lines, which our 
 dear tutor has put into the mouth of a child : 
 
 " If to correct me be his will, 
 I'll bear it with submission still ; 
 A tender Father sure he proves, 
 And but corrects, because he loves." 
 
 Doddridge's verses for Children, 
 
 *' Oh ! what less than a thousand arguments in 
 that one, for the most cordial, sweet, humble 
 submission ? O, my dear brother, how sweet to 
 see our comforts and our crosses, our joyful and 
 mournful circumstances, our life and our death, 
 all in the hands of such a Father ; all equally 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 131 
 
 under his direction, and all evidently designed 
 by him for our good ; all proceeding from his 
 everlasting love which he had for us, terminating 
 at last in our everlasting salvation ! This lays 
 an easy foundation for that precept, which is a 
 strange one to a carnal world — ' in every thing 
 give thanks.' 
 
 His illness continued three months, with inter- 
 vals of excruciating pain, arising, as was con- 
 jectured, from stones in the kidneys, producing 
 such inflamation as extended also to all the 
 adjacent parts : yet nothing was heard from his 
 lips, but continual expressions of praise and 
 thanksgiving. This led the apothecary to de- 
 clare, in a letter he wrote to announce Mr. Dar- 
 racott's death, " Of all the death-beds I ever at- 
 tended, I never saw such an instance of holy re- 
 signation and triumph." 
 
 About three weeks before he died, on a Lord's 
 day morning, he said to one that was standing 
 by, " I am going to that Jesus whom I love, and 
 whom I have so often preached. " Come, Lord 
 Jesus, come quickly, why are thy chariot-wheels 
 so long a-coming ?" He then turned from his 
 own case, to that of others ; and, in a solemn 
 manner, reminded those around him of their 
 appearance at the judgment-seat, exclaiming, 
 " I charge you, see to it that you meet me at the 
 right hand of God at the great day." 
 
 While affliction pressed heavily upon him, he 
 seemed overwhelmed with a sense of the divine 
 goodness, which he expressed in the following 
 
132 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 words : " Oh, what a mercy it is to have such a 
 rock to build upon as the Lord Jesus Christ ! I 
 have found him to be a firm rock that will not 
 fail. What a mercy it is to have a covenant 
 God, — a covenant that is so well ordered in all 
 things and sure, that is all my salvation, and all 
 my desire ! I have found him to be a covenant- 
 keeping God." 
 
 Adverting to his own incapacity for utterance, 
 and fearing lest his divine benefactor should be 
 defrauded of the due revenue of praise, he ad- 
 dressed Mrs. Darracott thus, " My dear, do you 
 speak of the goodness of God towards me, for 
 I want a tongue but not a heart to praise him." 
 A friend said, " I hope your tongue will be loosed 
 again, to praise him in this world ;" he answered, 
 " if not, we shall praise him in heaven together ; 
 Jiow good God is, he is all love, all goodness." 
 
 Observing some of his flock near him, he 
 shewed the ruling passion strong in death ; for 
 he commenced a sermon on his bed, exhorting 
 them to perseverance in the faith. " Hold out, 
 and hold on," said he. " I trust I have begotten 
 you both in Christ Jesus : may the Lord pour 
 down a plentiful effusion of his Spirit upon you." 
 
 The Psalmist anticipating the divine goodness, 
 said, " the righteous shall compass me about, for 
 thou shalt deal bountifully with me." This pri- 
 vilege now filled the heart of the dying saint with 
 gratitude and joy, which he thus expressed. 
 " What attendance have I got, Jesus is with me ; 
 angels are my guardians ; the blessed Spirit is my 
 
MEMOIRS OF DABRACOTT. 133 
 
 comforter and supporter ; and you, my dear spi- 
 ritual friends, waiting on me ; and my dear wife, 
 the best of women. But don't think highly of 
 me ; for if you have seen a measure of grace in 
 me, you have seen a great deal of corruption." 
 Then, after a pause, he said to himself, <' a little 
 longer, and the Lord will release me." To a 
 friend, who thus expressed his regard, " I hope 
 the Lord will restore you again ;" he replied, " no, 
 that is not to be expected," and then added, " my 
 eyes fail, I am going." 
 
 Every common object he seized, and turned to 
 pious use. His speech, his food, the comforts of 
 his bed, were thus improved. Finding his voice 
 falter, he said, " I want a new tongue to praise 
 God here ; but if not here, I shall have a new 
 heart and tongue to praise him in heaven." 
 When taking some refreshment, he exclaimed 
 *' Blessed be God for this meal ;" and to a friend, 
 who was coming in, he observed, " I have often 
 sat with you at the table of the Lord here ; I am 
 now going to sit around his board above : these 
 have been days in which I have taken great 
 delight, when I have gone to the house of God in 
 company with you." As he had said to his wife, 
 " I must leave you without any formality : when 
 will the day dawn, and the shadows flee away ?" 
 she, anxious for the comforts of his last moments, 
 asked him, " whether he was warm f when he 
 .replied, " I have a general warmth over my body, 
 and a general calm over my soul." 
 
 Sometimes the mental delights he enjoyed, 
 12 
 
 il 
 
 k \ « 
 
134 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 seemed so far to overcome all sense of physical 
 pain or disease, that he, for a moment, supposed 
 he might recover. Two days before he diedy 
 waking in a very delightful frame, he desired that 
 the apothecary might be sent for that he might 
 know what he thought of his case. When the 
 apothecary came, he gave but little hope. Mr, 
 Darracott answered, " all is well ; blessed be God, 
 I know in whom I have believed, and can rely on 
 the promises, they are all mine ; especially that, 
 « I will never leave nor forsake thee.' I am sure 
 he will not." 
 
 Like one neither unwilling to live, nor afraid to 
 die, he desired that the church might be called 
 together to pray for him, and to give him up to 
 the Lord. When symptoms of recovery ap- 
 peared, he called on those in the room w^ith him, 
 to bless God for it, and said, " when thou wilt 
 call, I will hear and answer. O blessed promise, 
 I have found it made good to me. Should the 
 Lord raise me up again, surely praise will become 
 this house." 
 
 The night before he died, he said, " O what a 
 good God have I in Christ Jesus. I would praise 
 him, but my lips cannot. Eternity wqll be too 
 short to speak his praises." He earnestly desired 
 that his tongue might be loosed, to speak the 
 praises of God ; and it was granted. The night 
 before he died, he was in a delightful frame, full 
 of heavenly joy, with his intellectual faculties in 
 full vigour. When the apothecary came in, he 
 said, ^« O, Mr. K. what a mercy it is to be in^ 
 
MEMOIRS OP DARRACOTT. 135 
 
 terested in the atoning blood of Christ ! You tell 
 me I am dying, how long do you think it will be 
 first ?" It was answered, '* that is uncertain, to 
 a few hours." " Will it be to night ?" said he ; 
 " I believe you will survive the night." " Well," 
 he exclaimed, "all is well, I am ready." " This, 
 sir," addressing the apothecary, " is agreeable to 
 the doctrine I have at all times preached, that I 
 now come to the Lord as a vile sinner, trusting 
 on the merits and precious blood of my dear 
 Redeemer. O grace, grace, free grace !" 
 
 As his flock lay very near his heart, he was 
 anxious that some of them should enjoy the en- 
 couragement afforded by the dying triumphs of 
 their pastor. At his desire, several of them were 
 called, but when they came, his spirits were ex- 
 hausted, by talking nearly three quarters of an 
 hour. He said to them, however, " in the fkith of 
 that doctrine I have preached to you, I am going 
 to die." He then related his experience of the 
 goodness of God to him in his sickness, and 
 said, " if I had a thousand lives to live, I would 
 live them all for Christ ; I have cast anchor on 
 him and rely on his blood, and am going to 
 venture my all upon him." He then took his 
 leave of each, in a very solemn manner, and said, 
 " watch your hearts, and keep them with all 
 diligence, for out of them is the issue of life ; as 
 for me, I have fought the good fight, I have fin- 
 ished my course, I have kept the faith : hence- 
 forth there is laid up for me, a crown of right- 
 eousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, 
 
136 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 shall give me at that day ; and not to me only, 
 but to them all also, who love his appearing." 
 When he saw Mrs. Darracott weeping, he said, 
 " Weep not for me, nor yet for yourself, for you 
 are a child of the covenant. I am going to see 
 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all that are got 
 to glory. Yet," said he, " should this be a delu- 
 sion ? but it is not, for I have the roll in my 
 bosom to be my admittance into heaven, and the 
 testimony of conscience within : my evidences 
 are clear." He then repeated these verses of 
 Dr. Watts. 
 
 *' My God, and can a humble child 
 That loves thee with a flame so high, 
 Be ever from thy face exii'd, 
 Without the pity of thine eye. 
 Impossible ! for thine own hands 
 Have tied my heart so fast to thee, 
 And in thy book, the promise stands, 
 That where thou art thy friends must be." 
 
 Reflecting on the source of his exquisite 
 enjoyments, he exclaimed, " the Lord had been 
 just if he had sent me to hell ; it was free-grace 
 that has saved me, and it was free-grace that I 
 have preached to others." To one who said, 
 " Sir, you are going to receive the fruits of your 
 labours ;" he answered, <' no, it is all free-grace, 
 grace." This, however, seems to have been 
 spoken with a view to his former meditations, on 
 the source of his religious distinction, and to 
 have been designed to suppress vain-glorious 
 ideas of merit. For, it is true, " that whatsoever 
 good thing any man doeth, the same shall he 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 137 
 
 receive of the Lord." This consideration, the 
 Apostle employs to stimulate christian servants 
 to a faithful discharge of their duties. " What- 
 soever ye do, do it heartily unto the Lord, and 
 not to men ; knowing that of the Lord ye shall 
 receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve 
 the Lord Christ." Therefore, it is said, by a 
 voice from heaven, " blessed are the dead that die 
 in the Lord ; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may 
 rest from their labours, and their works do follow 
 them:' 
 
 Mr. Darracott took the apothecary by the 
 hand, and said, " farewell, my dear friend, I 
 thank you for all that care, trouble, and kindness, 
 you have taken with and for me. Blessed be 
 God, all is well, all is well. I am now going to 
 see dear Williams, Doddridge, and the rest of 
 the glorified saints. Farewell, my friend, a good 
 night to you." In the morning on which he 
 died, his wife came in, and said, " my dear, you 
 are just on the borders of glory ;" he said, '' I 
 could not have thought it, had not the physician 
 and Mr. K. told me so, the passage is so easy." 
 His wife said, " how will you behold the dear 
 Lord Jesus, when you come to glory!" He 
 replied, " I shall behold him face to face." He 
 then lay in a slumber ; and all around thought 
 him dying, as no pulsation could be perceived. 
 But he awoke, in about twenty minutes after, and 
 said, " is Mr. Kennaway come ?" it was answered, 
 " yes." " O, my dear friend, how are you this 
 morning, did you not tell me, last nighty I was 
 12* 
 
138 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 dying ?" it was answered, " I did so." He said, 
 " it could not be, it was too easy. What a mercy 
 it is to be in Christ ; O precious, precious Jesus ! 
 Now," said he, " I am believing, rejoicing, 
 triumphant too." 
 
 As there were ten or twelve of his Christian 
 friends around his bed ; he took each one by the 
 hand, and bidding them farewell, said, " you see, 
 my friends, I now am dying in the same faith, I 
 have always preached unto you, and I would not 
 die in any other way for the world. O keep 
 close to Christ." When asked to take some- 
 thing to moisten his throat, he answered, " no, I 
 do not want to delay the time of death : then, 
 with a smile, he cried out, " come. Lord Jesus." 
 He asked again, " is this dying ?" when some 
 one answered, " yes ;" he replied, <•<■ it cannot be, 
 it is too good." 
 
 The devout Archbishop Leighton so much 
 dreaded the sight of weeping friends, around his 
 dying bed, that he wished he might die far from 
 such interruptions to calm devotion, such hin- 
 drances to heavenly joy. God gave him that 
 which he requested. But precious in the sight 
 of the Lord, is the death of his saints ; and it is 
 a sight so profitable to men, that we should fore- 
 go our own indulgences, to afford this privilege 
 to our families and friends. Thus Darracott 
 thought, and calling for his wife and children, 
 he took his leave of them, with the utmost com- 
 posure and serenity of mind, and submission to 
 his Father's will. Observing them, and all his 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 139 
 
 other friends weeping, he said to his wife, " my 
 dear and precious wife, why do you weep ; you 
 should rejoice. Rely on the promises. God 
 will never leave nor forsake you, all his promises 
 are true and sure. Well ; I am going from 
 weeping friends to congratulating angels, and re- 
 joicing saints in heaven and glory. Blessed be 
 God, all is well." 
 
 He asked, <' how much longer will it be, be- 
 fore I gain my dismission ?" it was answered, 
 " not long." " Well," he observed, " here is 
 nothing on earth I desire ! here I am waiting ! 
 what a mercy to be in Jesus!" he then threw 
 abroad his arms, and said, " he is coming, he is 
 coming ! but surely this can't be death. O how 
 astonishingly is the Lord softening my passage, 
 surely God is too good to such a worm ! O 
 speed thy chariot wheels, why are they so long 
 in coming ? I long to be gone." At length he 
 exclaimed, as if beginning a sentence, "faith 
 and hope :" these were his last words. About 
 eleven o'clock in the morning, he lay down, and, 
 just before twelve, fell asleep in Jesus whom he 
 so much loved. 
 
 Thus, like Stephen, amidst the pains of mar- 
 tyrdom, and the anticipation of heaven, he ex- 
 pired on the 14th of March, 1759, in the forty- 
 second year of his age. 
 
 On opening his will, it was found to contain, 
 besides the disposal of his property, the following 
 sentences. 
 
 " It is my will and desire, that I be buried the 
 
140 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT* 
 
 fourth or fifth day after my decease, about one 
 o'clock in the morning ; and that the time be 
 kept secret from all, but such as are hereafter- 
 mentioned, who are the only persons I desire may 
 attend me to my last bed. My desire further is, 
 that Mr. Thomas, Thomas Snook, William Par- 
 sons, Mr. Cade, Thomas Harford, and Robert 
 Pine, carry me to my grave. Let Mr. Varder be 
 sent for to be with them at the time, and let him 
 spend one half hour in .prayer in my parlour, 
 before they carry me away. At the grave I would 
 have nothing said, but let them commit my flesh 
 to the dust, in cheerful hope of a resurrection to 
 eternal life ; let them all be concerned to give 
 me a joyful meeting at the great day. 
 
 " It is also my desire, that my dear brother, 
 the Rev. Mr. Fawcett, be sent for to preach my 
 funeral sermon, about a month or six weeks after 
 my decease, as it shall suit his own conveniency. 
 I would not have him say a word in praise of 
 me, but tell the people, that having loved them, 
 I have loved them to the end ; and, as a proof of 
 it, have made a choice of this word. Phil. iv. 1. 
 «« Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved and 
 longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in 
 the Lord, my dearly beloved :" it is my last and 
 dying charge to them, praying and hoping that 
 God will help my dear brother to carry home 
 the exhortations upon their hearts, and that they 
 will carefully attend to all the affectionate argu- 
 ments with which the exhortation is urged. 
 
 " My further desire is, that the sermon be 
 
MEMOtRS OF DARRACOTT. 141 
 
 printed, and that my dear people would not fail 
 to have each of them one, to be with them when 
 they will see my face no more. By which, though 
 dead, I would be considered as speaking the most 
 affectionately and tenderly to them. If my dear 
 brother approves of it, I would have another 
 edition of my * Scripture Marks' printed and 
 stitched with my Funeral Sermon ; principally 
 on this account, that my dear people may the 
 better remember the gospel I have preached, 
 and what is that stedfastness in the faith, which I 
 am concerned they may hold fast ; as I write this, 
 in my own apprehension, on my dying bed, they 
 may believe me, when I say, I have no other view 
 in all this, but the good of souls. 
 
 " Before this will be communicated, I shall be 
 gone to my Judge, and I can, and do rejoice, that 
 he is my Saviour. I have good hope through grace, 
 and I have once more seriously tried the founda- 
 tion of it, and I find it will stand in the prospect 
 of eternity. I can, blessed be God, and I would 
 not but I should, for all the world, be able to give 
 a reason of the hope that is in me ; and to my 
 « Scripture Marks,' I refer, as the solid evidence 
 of my interest in Christ, who, in point of all 
 dependance, love, and esteem, is and has been, 
 for more than twenty years, my ' all in all.' — 
 Adieu." 
 
 According to his request, his body was opened, 
 to ascertain the disorder of which he died. Five 
 stones were found in the left kidney, which had 
 been so inflamed, that putrefaction had nearly 
 
142 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 consumed that organ. The parts contiguous, 
 having partaken of the inflammation, betrayed 
 the agony which he must have endured. How 
 exalted, then, must have been the consolations 
 which rendered him so insensible of his afflictions! 
 How forcibly this case illustrates the beautiful 
 expressions of the Apostle, when praying for the 
 Collossians ! " That ye may be strengthened with 
 all might, according to his glorious power, unto 
 all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness ; 
 giving thanks to the Father, who hath made us 
 meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the 
 Saints, in light." 
 
 The funeral was conducted according to Mr. 
 Darracott's directions. But though he evidently 
 designed to avoid attracting a crowd to his grave, 
 the time could not be kept entirely secret, and 
 immense multitudes attended at that early hour. 
 The darkness was dispelled by their numerous 
 torches, and its silence broken by their sighs, in- 
 termingled with the praises of their deceased pas- 
 tor. 
 
 The request to Mr. Fawcett, drew from him 
 the following letter to Mrs. Darracott. 
 
 " Kidderminster, March 21, 1759. 
 
 " My very dear Mrs. Darracott, 
 
 " I am afflicted in all your affliction. My heart 
 
 bleeds for you, and for your fatherless children. 
 
 Nothing in the creature can repair your loss. 
 
 The kindness of surviving mortals can never heal 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 143 
 
 this breach. Wherewithal shall I comfort you ? 
 Alas ! it is not in me. I have lost the most inti- 
 mate Christian friend and brother that ever I had 
 upon earth. We took sweet counsel together, 
 and our hearts and hands were united in the same 
 pursuits for two and twenty years. But this tie 
 of friendship is dissolved. My friend and bro- 
 ther is gone, and 1 despair of ever finding an 
 equal in these mortal abodes. Thus I feel for my- 
 self in this awful event. 
 
 " But mine is a drop, compared with youf 
 ocean of grief. Mine is a loss, not to be men- 
 tioned with that of the widow and fatherless. 
 Who can comfort you, when you see him no more 
 in your own house, or in the house of God ? No 
 more enjoy the meltings of his inmost soul ? No 
 more behold that cheerful, self-possessing, ever- 
 smiling countenance ? No more join in his pray- 
 ers and praises ? Nor be a witness to his pioug 
 labours, his delightful intelligences, or his over- 
 flowing joy and triumph through all ? 
 
 "" Happy for us, that we know where to seek 
 solid an satisfying comfort, even amidst this sor- 
 rowful scene ! God is not dead. Jesus, from 
 whom the most amiable friends derived all their 
 loveliness and excellence, is the same yesterday, 
 and to-day, and for ever. The promises are true 
 and faithful, great and precious. Providence is 
 but accomplishing the designs of covenant love. 
 Out of the eater comes meat, and out of the un- 
 savoury comes sweetness. Death, indeed, has 
 conquered, but it is only in order to be itself 
 
144 MEMOIRS OF DARBACOTT. 
 
 entirely abolished. Our friend is gone from us, 
 but he is with infinitely better friends. He can 
 no more serve and please his family and flock ; 
 but it was rich grace that enabled him to serve 
 and please them so much, and so long. We justly 
 mourn the loss we sustain, but we are very un- 
 just, if we do not bless and praise God, that ever 
 we had such a friend, such a relative ; that we 
 enjoyed him so freely and fully, and reaped such 
 valuable benefits by him. 
 
 " Nor have we lost him now, he is only gone 
 before, got the start of us in this instance, as he 
 did in every thing that was important. He is with 
 him who is the God of the widow, and the father 
 of the fatherless, and who comforts them that are 
 cast down into any trouble. He is where we, 
 through grace, are also going, where we hope to 
 be soon. What an interview will that be ? How 
 will our friend look in glory ? Where will all our 
 pains and tears at parting be then ? How will 
 that meeting reprove our present unbelief? 
 
 *' O, let us turn our complaints into praises ! 
 Blessed be God for such a friend ! Adored be 
 divine grace for all his loveliness and usefulness ! 
 that he did so much, in so little time ; that he 
 lived and died as all will wish to have done ! that 
 he rests with the saints in their everlasting rest ! 
 that the labourer has now his hire, the weary 
 pilgrim his home, and the heir is come to the 
 full possession of his large, his glorious inheri- 
 tance. 
 
MEMOIRS OP DARRACOTT. 145 
 
 " May the spirit of Jesus, which made a dying 
 bed so comfortable to our friend, take the com- 
 forts of Jesus and apply them to me, to you, to 
 the dear children, and to all the weeping friends 
 and neighbours around you ! There are comforts 
 for us that are neither few nor small ; do not let 
 us overlook them, nor, through our tears, mistak-e 
 them. 
 
 " I thank Miss Darracott for her letters, and 
 rejoice at the discovery therein made of her im- 
 provements under her dear father. May the 
 Lord Jesus Christ abundantly bless, and comfort- 
 ably provide for her, and her dear brother. 
 
 " I desire my thanks may be returned to Mr. 
 Kennaway for his letter, and for the copy of what 
 is written on the back of the will. There is not 
 any room for objection to such a dying request, 
 otherwise Mr. Pearsall would have done every 
 thing better. The Lord help me to fulfil this last 
 office for my friend, in a manner worthy of such 
 friendship as his. 
 
 " If it please God to preserve my health, and 
 my family's, I hope to be with you, in April, or 
 May. If you should discern any peculiar reasons 
 for desiring one month, or Sabbath, rather than 
 another, I beg, madam, you will be pleased to 
 inform me. " - I am expecting Mr. Davey here, 
 from Crediton, and both he and myself would be 
 disappointed, if I should not be at home, when he 
 is here. If he would come hither, in April, I 
 would administer our Lord's supper the last Sab- 
 bath in that month, and then go back with him, 
 13 *, 
 
146 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 SO as to be at Wellington, the first Lord's-day in 
 May. I am writing to him. Your, and your 
 dear children's sympathizing friend, 
 
 « B. Fawcett." 
 
 The funeral sermon which Mr. Fawcett preach- 
 ed at Wellington, April 15, exactly a month 
 after his friend's decease, was, by his command, 
 silent concerning his praise. Th^ attentive mul- 
 titudes, their sighs, and tears, sufficiently pro- 
 claimed the worth of their departed shepherd. 
 And in the following picture of a faithful pastor, 
 Mr. Fawcett evidently designed to give the like- 
 ness of his friend. 
 
 " If a gospel minister has a heart ever glowing 
 with love to Christ, and love to immortal souls ; 
 if this love makes him abundant in labours, fer- 
 vent in spirit, serving the lord, and glad to spend 
 and be spent for the people committed to his 
 care ; if by this love he is evidently superior to 
 selfish views, above the influence of filthy lucre, 
 full of anxious concern to convince and convert 
 sinners, and edify saints, ready to every good 
 word and work, and yearning with bowels of 
 compassion towards the ignorant, the stupid, the 
 profligate, the doubting and distressed, the weak 
 and feeble-minded, the poor and mean ; if this 
 love, not only pours out a continual torrent of 
 faithful, aftectionate, heart-searching ministra- 
 tions from the pulpit, both in season and out of 
 season, but opens his house at all times, as a 
 common refuge for the distressed, and especially 
 for soul distresses ; if this love opens his way 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 147 
 
 into the houses of all his friends, and neighbours, 
 not to serve himself, but them, and especially by 
 bringing eternal things home to their personal 
 converse and immediate attention ; if this love 
 leaves him no idle moments, and shews him to be 
 most of all in his element, when most directly pro- 
 moting the beginning, progress, or establishment 
 of the divine life in those around him; if this 
 love makes the prosperity of the churches, and 
 especially of the particular church over which 
 he presides, his chief joy ; in a word, if in con- 
 sequence of this love, he lives, and best of all 
 enjoys himself, when his people stand fast in the 
 Lord ; is there not a beauty and excellence in 
 such a character, which forces esteem, and obli- 
 ges even the enemies of Christ and godliness, ei- 
 ther silently to admire it, or (which is sometimes 
 the case) freely speak their approbation of it, or 
 in some way to acknowledge its excellence. 
 Was not this the meaning of what a profane gen- 
 tleman once said to his friend, as they met Mr. 
 Darracott, going to his meeting-house, to preach 
 on a week day, " there," says he, " goes a man, 
 that serves God as if the Devil was in him !" 
 
 The letters of condolence which Mrs. Darra- 
 cott received, were too numerous for insertion. 
 The following, from Mr. Walker, of Truro, af- 
 forded the mourning widow much consolation. 
 
148 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 " Truro, June 21, 1769. 
 
 " Dear Mrs. Darracott, 
 
 " I have read in dear Mr. Fawcetfs sermon; 
 the Triumphs of Free Grace, at the most inte- 
 resting season. What a blessing to you, that the 
 happy subject of them was your husband, to me, 
 that he was my friend ! I doubt not, through 
 grace, such a refreshing scene has mightily con- 
 firmed your faith. And how tender the bowels 
 of infinite mercy, that, when you should be called 
 to the greatest trial you can possibly have to go 
 through in the world, that very trial should be 
 attended with circumstances, so irresistibly, (I had 
 almost said fitted t<D reconcile you to it) and even 
 make you joyful under it ! The loss of so kind a 
 partner is sensibly afflicting. But time will con- 
 tribute to reconcile you to that. Your greater 
 loss is that of a near, faithful, and excellent 
 friend, example, and helper. Your loss on this 
 side, it is probable, will be increasingly felt, as 
 time, and change of circumstances and ministers, 
 advance upon you. Permit me, therefore, to say, 
 that it is here you need to be on your guard, that 
 you may always patiently submit to the perfect 
 will of your heavenly Father. May you be enabled 
 to say, in every case, and peculiarly in the want 
 of so quickening a guide, *' Even this, O Lord, I 
 needed also, to make me more entirely seek my 
 all in thee." 
 
 " In the sense of what you have lost, it will be 
 very natural for you to reflect on yourself, that 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 149 
 
 you did not more value and more profit by the 
 blessing, while it was in your possession. Possi- 
 bly, in such reviews, Satan may be attempting to 
 cast in his accusations, and to discourage you in 
 the thought of your unprofitableness. I beseech 
 you, yield nothing to him, nor give up the least 
 jot of your confidence in God, through the merits 
 of Jesus, which is what he waits for. Unprofit- 
 ableness is a just cause of humiliation in the peo- 
 ple of God, but never of doubting ; rather should 
 we be thankful for anything received, under what- 
 ever means, since the measure, as well as the 
 means, is the gift of God. 
 
 " I am much mistaken in you, if you are not 
 enabled to adorn, and will not do so, the gospel 
 of God our Saviour, in your meek and cheerful 
 submission. You had been taught, long before, 
 the Christian's lot, and that it is through much 
 tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of 
 God ; wherefore the day of sorrow has not come 
 upon you unawares; I trust it never will be able 
 to do so. I am sure it cannot, while you have 
 upon your heart, both that God ordereth all 
 things to you, and that he will make all things 
 work together for your good. Still you have your 
 children left you. The Lord make them your 
 comfort, by pouring upon them a double portion 
 of their father's spirit. 
 
 " I am greatly obliged to Miss Kitty for her 
 
 favour. Were I nearer to her, I would say to 
 
 her, and I am persuaded she would not take it ill, 
 
 ' Comfort your mother, be more careful of her 
 
 13* 
 
150 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 than ever, study in all things to act as she would 
 have you, and let your conduct be always such as 
 IS suited to maintain and improve all reverence 
 towards her in your two little brothers.' 
 
 " I doubt not you are sincerely concerned, that 
 good Mr. Darracott's place may be properly sup- 
 plied. His poor people ! I feel and pray for 
 them, desiring to be affectionately remembered 
 to them. I am, 
 
 " Dear Mrs. Darracott, 
 " Your most obedient and faithful servant in Christ, 
 
 " Samuel Walker." 
 
 Mrs. Darracott passed the rest of her life in 
 widowhood, and spent her last years with her 
 daughter, at Romsey. She died on the 28th of 
 December, 1799, in the eighty-sixth year of her 
 age. She had joined the church at Barnstaple, 
 when only seventeen : and, towards the close of 
 life, used to reflect with grateful pleasure, that 
 she had been enabled to serve the Lord nearly 
 seventy years. Her wise and cheerful piety ren- 
 dered her, at a very advanced age, highly agreeable 
 and useful to those young persons who were in- 
 troduced to her company. She often longed for 
 the hour of dismission, which she at last welcomed 
 with calm triumph. 
 
 At her particular request, her corpse was re- 
 moved to Wellington, to be interred with the 
 remains of her husband. When the tomb was 
 opened for her, a person who had been, forty 
 years before, deeply affected under Mr. Darra- 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 151 
 
 cott's ministry, but had turned aside to the world, 
 came to see what was left of her former pastor. 
 The sight of his bones so forcibly recalled the 
 views and feelings which his animating voice had 
 first produced, that she burst forth into the most 
 violent expressions of alarm and anguish. Thus 
 the righteous man " being dead yet speaketh :" 
 from his tomb issues a voice, at once alarming 
 to the wicked, and grateful to the believer in 
 Jesus. 
 
 Only one such instance occurred, at Mrs. Dar- 
 racott's interment ; for, during the forty years 
 which had elapsed since her husband's death, a 
 generation had gone down to the dust, and few 
 were left who knew the Star which had once 
 shined in the West. But had Darracott's grave 
 been opened, within a few years after his death, 
 it is probable, from the character which some of 
 his former hearers betrayed, that the sight of his 
 corpse would have stung several of them to the 
 heart. 
 
152 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 As we naturally wish to have seen those whose 
 tale has excited admiration and esteem, it may 
 not be unacceptable to the reader to be furnished 
 with a description of Mr. Darracott's person. 
 He was slender, and rather under, than above, 
 the middle stature. His countenance was all 
 animation, benevolence, and happiness. His eye 
 darted, not the flash of genius, but the mild 
 beam of religion. The expression of his mouth, 
 when unopened, gave a pleasing promise of the 
 law of kindness which was upon his lips, and the 
 love of his God which was in his heart. His 
 looks spake all the greatness of goodness. 
 
 The manners of Mr. Darracott were, as those 
 of a minister should be, graceful yet simple, 
 indicating the man who, from benevolent conde- 
 scension, lived ' among the poor, while he was 
 ever prepared to instruct and delight the cul- 
 tivated mind. All his movements told that his 
 heart bounded with goodness, and his soul was 
 on fire for action. But his constitution was not^ 
 vigorous, and his body gave early and frequent 
 intimations, that it could not long support the 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 155 
 
 expenditure to which it was doomed by his ar- 
 dent spirit. 
 
 His disposition, whether it should be ascribed 
 wholly to religion, or, in some measure, to natu- 
 ral temperament, was very lovely. For, with all 
 that ardour which endeared him to the church, 
 and to his friends, he was gentle and forgiving to 
 his enemies. It was frequently observed of him, 
 that, bold as a lion in the pulpit, he was, in the 
 intercourse of life, meek as a lamb. Amidst 
 considerable opposition, he was never roused to 
 anger. In all his letters, he wisely abstained 
 from any mention of his enemies ; and, when a 
 member of his family expressed a resolution to 
 have no dealings with a tradesman who had in- 
 jured him, he strongly censured the spirit, in- 
 sisting that no difference should be made, ex- 
 cept in favour of the ofi'ender. 
 
 As it is in domestic life, that the power of 
 religion is most unequivocally displayed, Mr. 
 Darracott was distinguished by kind and devout 
 attentions to the present and eternal happiness of 
 all who were about him. The incessant solici- 
 tude for the comfort of his wife, which is expres- 
 sed in many of his private papers, left an impres- 
 sion on her mind, which, through a widowhood 
 of forty years, she cherished with undiminished 
 fondness. His dying exhortations to his children 
 displayed the heart of a Christian father, soli- 
 citous only that they might possess the godliness 
 which has the promise of the life that now is, 
 and of that which is to come. 
 
154 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 As a scholar he was not eminent ; for if some- 
 thing must be mentioned under the head of faults, 
 it may be here observed, that his censors re- 
 proached him for that kind of zeal which precludes 
 close study. He contented himself with the 
 portion of literature which he brought with him 
 from the seminary of Doddridge. Were none to 
 apply themselves to the study of biblical criticism, 
 the cause of religion, as well as of literature, 
 would essentially suffer. But Risdon Darracott 
 was better engaged. Had he lived to the age 
 when youthful fires subside, and when the useful- 
 ness of a minister is seen more in the edification 
 of Christians than in the conversion of the ungodly, 
 he might have felt the want of those additions 
 which many others were making to their stores 
 of knowledge. He felt, however, as a man on 
 the verge of the grave ; and, warned by the 
 frequent attacks of disease, that his course would 
 be short, he laboured to accomplish immedi- 
 ately the great objects of his ministry, instead of 
 preparing for more distant usefulness. As he 
 continually enjoyed the success of his labours, 
 the converts added to the church brought with 
 them the freshness and animation which kept 
 others alive ; and, as he scarcely outlived the 
 age of physical force and animal spirits, his 
 preaching was never deficient in interest. 
 
 His " Scripture Marks," which are a tolerably 
 fair specimen, prove that his composition pos- 
 sessed the prime excellencies of purity, perspicuity, 
 and vivacity. To sublimity of imagination, or 
 
MEMOIRS OP DARRACOTT. 155 
 
 elegance of style, he never aspired. His affec- 
 tions, however, abundantly supplied the defects 
 of his fancy, and threw a charm over his language, 
 which endeared him to pious minds. 
 
 In the capacity of a divine, he was accurate 
 rather than profound. According to the nomen- 
 clature, which obtains among Christians, he was 
 a Calvinist. But his belief of the divine sove- 
 reignty, and of the election of grace, was not a 
 bigotted attachment to a system ; it was the 
 result of a deep conviction of the total ruin of 
 our nature, and an entire dependance on divine 
 influence, as the only source of true religion. 
 His system, therefore, never appeared, but where 
 it was needed to humble man, to inspire a cheer- 
 ful confidence in divine grace, or to secure to 
 God, the glory due to him for our salvation. 
 
 Though he was a very captivating preacher, 
 he would not, as a writer of sermons, have 
 acquired celebrity from the press. The mode in m^ 
 
 which he prepared his public discourses might 
 be called superficial. He drew up the outline 
 with logical exactness, usually with an eye to the 
 subject of the discourse, expressed in the title, 
 rather than to the passage on which it was 
 founded. A copious store of texts was noted down 
 for illustration and proof, but without that passing 
 gloss, which, by eliciting the import and the spirit 
 of the Scriptures, forms the riches of a sermon. 
 He scarcely ever provided those right words, 
 whose felicity and energy, render them as 
 nails fastened in a sure place. Hence, had it 
 
156 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 not been for the passions, which are always 
 eloquent, his preaching had been unimpressive. 
 But his written sermons, like those of Whitefield, 
 of whom he was a counterpart upon a reduced 
 scale, convey no adequate idea of his preaching. 
 The fire of his heart, the light of his eye, the 
 affection of his tone, and the solemnity of his 
 manner, communicated an inexpressible interest, 
 and made common thoughts appear striking. 
 
 Of his sermons, the following letter may give 
 gome idea. 
 
 " My dear friend, 
 
 " Never was a letter more seasonably sent 
 than your last, never could a word be more 
 suitably adapted to my present case, than that 
 you copied for me of dying Joshua. It so struck 
 me, that I could not get it out of my thoughts, 
 and I could not but consider it, as a word given 
 me to preach upon, the ensuing day : and the 
 rather, as the subject I had been studying, most 
 of the last week, I found myself so barren 
 upon, that I was questioning within my- 
 self, whether I should insist upon it, and yet 
 till this passage came to me in your letter, I 
 could think of no other. But on this, my whole 
 soul fixed with sweetness ; it was the very word 
 I wanted for myself, as I had been conflicting so 
 much of late with unbelief, and I was in hopes it 
 would be of service to many of my people, as I 
 know that mine was alsp their own case. And 
 now, I cannot but adopt the words of David to 
 Abigail, and say, ' blessed be the Lord God, who 
 
MEMOIKS OF DARRACOTT. 157 
 
 sent your letter so opportunely to me, and blessed 
 be your advice, and blessed be you, who have 
 kept me from continuing in a frame so provoking 
 to God, so uncomfortable to myself, and so dis- 
 honourable to my profession.' 
 
 " I have noW; the pleasure to inform you, 
 through the rich mercy of God, that the conside- 
 ration of this passage yesterday, has, for the pre- 
 sent, banished every unbelieving and distressing 
 thought, has strengthened my faith, and confirm^ 
 ed my hope in the divine promises. I first took 
 a view^ of some of those gracious things God has 
 promised to do for his people, with regard to 
 grace here, and glory hereafter, and every other 
 good thing that was necessary in the way ; and 
 then showed that none of these promises could 
 fail being accomplished, as they were all made 
 from a fore-knowledge of our persons and cases, 
 from pure and unmerited love, were the promises 
 of a God of almighty power, who could easily 
 effect whatever he promised, — a God who was 
 unchangeable, and whose thoughts of love are, 
 and must be, the same from one eternity to 
 another, — a God of inviolable truth and faithful- 
 ness, and never can once alter the thing that is 
 gone out of his mouth, — promises that are farther 
 secured to us by the oath of God, and everyone 
 sealed by the blood of his own Son, — promises 
 which the Spirit of all truth has indited, and the 
 experience of all the saints have sealed the 
 truth of." 
 
 Mr. Darracott was still more distinguished as 
 14 
 
158 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 a pastor than as a preacher. He was far from 
 resembling those, whose neglect of their flocks 
 reminds us of what the sacred writer says of 
 the cruel " ostrich, that leaveth her eggs in the 
 earth, and warmeth them in the sand, and for- 
 getteth that the foot of the traveller may crush 
 them, or that the wild beast may break them : 
 she is hardened against her young ones, as if they 
 were not hers ; her labour is in vain, without 
 fear." Mr. Darracott watched, with unwearied 
 diligence, for the fruit of his preaching. This 
 rendered his sermons appropriate, and induced him 
 constantly to choose the most important and useful 
 subjects ; so that his hearers always found him 
 preaching about something which they felt to be 
 of the utmost consequence to themselves. 
 
 In the more private attentions the pastor of 
 Wellington was unrivalled. He was a bishop 
 that exercised hospitality ; for his house was ever 
 open to the enquiring traveller, who was asking 
 the way to Zion, with his face thitherward. He 
 convinced all such, by his benevolent counte- 
 nance and his instructive voice, that their ap- 
 plications were not considered as intrusions. 
 
 His method of w^riting letters to his own 
 hearers, which he sometimes read to them him- 
 self, was singular. Perhaps it would succeed in 
 few hands but his own. Uncommon prudence 
 and unbounded benevolence would be required, 
 to avoid giving offence, in addresses so pointed 
 and personal ; but it does not appear, that any of 
 these truly pastoral letters alienated from him a 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 159 
 
 single hearer ; and by such efforts, how fully did 
 he clear himself of the blood of every man ! 
 
 The solicitude he felt to win souls, peculiarly 
 deserves to be held up to imitation, as no minister 
 can hope to share in his honours and delights, 
 without a portion of his faithful benevolent spirit. 
 If a month elapsed without some tokens of the 
 divine influence accompanying his ministry, this 
 good man began to mourn, and tell it to his 
 friends around, that they might plead with God 
 for him. The pastoral lists he kept, contributed 
 much to remind him of the state of his flock, to 
 recall to him the success with which the Re- 
 deemer had crowned his past labours, and thus to 
 furnish the most mighty stimulus to new ex- 
 ertions. 
 
 For public spirit, Mr. Darracott deserves pecu- 
 liar honour ; as it was not the characteristic of 
 his times. The interests of religion, in all the 
 churches around, were the object of his most 
 lively solicitude ; for, he was far from supposing, 
 that a minister of Jesus Christ is bound to regard 
 only that particular flock, which he has engaged 
 to feed. Yet such a notion has often been the 
 sin of independent ministers, the bane and op- 
 probrium of the Independent cause. 
 
 No part of Mr. Darracott's ministry contributed 
 more to his usefulness, than village-preaching. 
 He was, indeed, peculiarly formed for this line 
 of labour. The simplicity of his style, per- 
 haps also, the mediocrity of his thoughts, added 
 to the vivacity and sweetness of his manner, gave 
 
160 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 him the high praise of the poor man's preacher ; 
 which is, indeed, the closest imitation of our 
 Lord, of whom it is recorded, that " the common 
 people heard him gladly." 
 
 If, in this line, the men of humbler talents 
 may hope to excel ; here, also, the more brilliant 
 preacher should labour to excel. The simplicity 
 which village-preaching not only admits, but 
 demands, would very much improve the style and 
 manner of those who are in danger of shooting 
 over the heads, and never coming near the hearts 
 of their hearers. Nothing is further from truth, 
 than the notion that preaching to the poor and 
 illiterate, would spoil a man for the more polished 
 hearers ; for our Lord has so entwined our duty 
 and our interest, that he who acquires, by de- 
 scending to the peasantry, an air of unembar- 
 rassed earnestness, seizes the surest means of 
 commanding the attention of the genteel. 
 
 Mr. Darracott's diligence in the distribution of 
 tracts, has, in our days, become a common excel- 
 lence. But with him it was entitled to high 
 praise ; for no tract societies had then furnished 
 variety to suit every taste, or roused even luke- 
 warmness by the force of example. It was, 
 however, to the honour of Williams, of Kidder- 
 minster, and some other wealthy laymen, that 
 they assisted this faithful pastor, whose heart was 
 too large for his purse. Many who are busy in 
 getting money, complain that they have no time 
 to distribute bibles or tracts ; but they might, by 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 161 
 
 the hands of their pastor, disperse abroad the 
 evidence, that in them was fulfilled the predic- 
 tion, " I will consecrate their gain unto the 
 Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the 
 whole earth." 
 
 In Mr. Darracott, every lively, faithful minister, 
 found a hearty friend. The most eminent, in 
 different denominations, were his correspondents 
 and visitors ; for there was nothing unsocial or 
 envious in his composition. By this, he proved 
 the eminence of his religion, and powerfully pro- 
 moted his usefulness. He who will never 
 co-operate with his brethren in the ministry, will 
 do, comparatively, little ; for there are many 
 things we cannot do single-handed ; but the 
 minister who wins the hearts of others, strength- 
 ens their hands and fires their zeal. It was 
 forbidden to Mr. Fawcett to make the funeral 
 sermon an Eloge on his departed brother ; but no 
 eulogium could have been more honourable than 
 that which he uttered in his letter of condolence 
 to the widow : " I have lost the most intimate 
 christian friend and brother that ever I had upon 
 earth. Our hearts and hands have been united 
 in the same pursuits, for two and twenty years. 
 He is gone, and I despair of ever finding his 
 equal in these mortal abodes." Such friendships 
 as these among ministers, tend to magnify their 
 oflice ; while nothing degrades them more, than 
 mutual envy and detraction. 
 
 The spirit which Mr. Darracott displayed at 
 14^ 
 
162 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 the college, augured well. While his humility 
 and personal religion, secured to him the heart of 
 his tutor, his diligence in study prepared him for 
 the respectable discharge of his future duties. 
 We may, indeed, expect excellent ministers, 
 where we see humble, devout, and industrious 
 students ; for, the same spirit which produced 
 docility at Northampton, rendered Darracott too 
 tender of the body of Christ, to occasion a 
 division at Chumleigh, and enabled him to outlive 
 all opposition at Wellington. But an ungovern- 
 able spirit in a subordinate station, portends 
 fierce tyranny, or cold haughty reserve, when in 
 the seat of office and of power. May our semi- 
 naries be filled with such students, and our 
 churches supplied with such pastors as Risdon 
 Darracott. 
 
 The affectionate, profitable correspondence 
 carried on between the tutor and his former 
 pupil, was much to the praise and advantage of 
 both. Doddridge shewed the heart of a scriptural 
 teacher, " for the perfecting of the saints for the 
 work of the ministry," by the intercourse which 
 he maintained with the young men, after they 
 left his house ; and Darracott ever proved his 
 personal religion and zeal for the success of Jiis 
 ministry, by the manner in which he courted the 
 counsel and exhortations of the former guide of 
 his studies. Thus he was rendered anxious to be 
 able to give a good account of his progress, to 
 one, in whose esteem he wished to live ; and the 
 tutor was kept alive to the great objects of his 
 
MEMOIRS OF BARRACOTT. 16S 
 
 Institution, by what he heard of the success which 
 had attended the labours of his favourite pupil. 
 There are no places, where these details are 
 more needed, than at colleges, where the study of 
 languages, science, and the technical part of 
 preaching, too frequently turns away attention 
 from the great objects of the ministry ; nor are 
 such details ever so likely to be well received 
 and improved by the students, as when they come 
 from one who was the child and glory of their 
 own alma mate?'. 
 
 For the undiminished ardour of his religion, and 
 the continuance of this success, Mr. Darracott 
 deserves peculiar notice. From the hour of his con- 
 version, to his death, he pursued one rapid course, 
 keeping the goal incessantly in view. Neither 
 science with its mental delights, nor pleasure 
 with its sensual gratifications, nor wealth with its 
 honours, could successfully throw the fatal apple 
 to turn him aside from his course, or even check 
 the rapidity of his progress. Rare felicity ! yet 
 much to be desired ! 
 
 He began divinely. Many, who afterwards 
 prove eminent blessings, come from college with 
 an ambition to shine as popular preachers, or as 
 men of genius and literary eminence, rather than 
 to glorify Christ in the conversion of his chosen. 
 After some time spent under this unhallowed 
 inspiration, they begin to see the vanity of their 
 pursuit, to despair of gaining distinction in this 
 line, or to feel that such eminence leaves the 
 conscience defiled with the guilt of self-seeking, 
 
164 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 and the heart devoid of the consolations of use- 
 fulness. Afflictions are kindly sent to accelerate, 
 by increasing personal religion, the operation of 
 these reflections ; and thus, the gay hearers at 
 length lose their favourite orator, because the 
 church of God has gained a faithful preacher, 
 who is wise to win souls ! Happy is it when the 
 new wine thus works itself clear. 
 
 But, for many reasons, we may regret the 
 necessity of such conversions. For it is not 
 certain, that he who begins as a trifler in the 
 pulpit, may not trifle till he drops into the grave. 
 Or, while in this spirit, he may by righteous 
 judgment be left to fall into some sin, which may 
 blast his reputation, and with it, all hope of 
 future usefulness. But, should he survive this 
 dangerous period, he will look back with bitter 
 regret, upon some of the best years of his life 
 prostituted to a mean ambition. Had Risdon 
 Darracott thus deferred, till thirty, his holy 
 apostolic devotedness to his Master's service, 
 half his twenty years of labour, which were all 
 that heaven allotted him, would have expired 
 before he began to work. It was his happiness, 
 however, to work while it was day, from the 
 morning when he blazed forth in the vicinity of 
 Northampton, till he sunk in the shadows of the 
 night of death, when no man can work. 
 
 By this means, Mr. Darracott seized the most 
 valuable portion of his time, and turned it to 
 good account. There is an inexpressible charm 
 in youth, which excites the sympathies of the 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 165 
 
 young, and the benevolence of the aged. But 
 when youthful simplicity is seen in a pulpit, it 
 only requires the wisdom of eminent piety, to 
 render it at once lovely and mighty, to charm 
 those of the same age, who will always be a 
 most numerous class of hearers, and to surprise 
 the older, who after having been accustomed to 
 look back to former days for all that was valua- 
 ble, are delighted to see, that provision is made 
 for the edification of the church on earth, when 
 they should be joining in the worship of heaven. 
 
 But, unhappily, very young preachers often 
 serve only to amuse their own contemporaries, 
 and to disappoint their seniors. Mistaking the 
 lowest for the highest of the human faculties, and 
 fancying that imagination is a proof of genius ; 
 they waste the most precious, sacred moments, in 
 stringing flowers to form May-day garlands, when 
 they should be drawing the bow of victory, and 
 aiming the arrow at the heart. Surprise, there- 
 fore, heightens delight, when a preacher is seen, 
 like Spencer, of Liverpool, with the soul of a 
 man in the body of a boy, with almost infantile 
 graces in looks and tones, which serve only to 
 take off the sombre cast from the most serious 
 thoughts, on the most awful themes. 
 
 Without acquiring the extensive reputation of 
 the youth just mentioned, Mr. Darracott improved 
 all his early advantages to the noblest purpose, 
 and thus availed himself of the most useful period 
 of life. For as we have more vivacity in youth 
 to devise new schemes, and more vigour for their 
 
166 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 execution, so it is the usual course of our gracious 
 Lord, to smile on the first labours of his sincere 
 servants, that he may satisfy them early with his 
 mercy, and cause them to rejoice in his service all 
 their days. 
 
 The honours which Mr. Darracott so early ac- 
 quired, he preserved to the end. Any open depar- 
 ture from the holiness of the Gospel, embitters 
 the Christian's subsequent days, and blasts the 
 genuine honours of the minister, whatever eclat 
 he may afterwards acquire with a party ; and 
 even a relapse into lukewarmness may exchange 
 the delights of the early part of life, for a 
 disreputable and comfortless old age. This 
 should, indeed, reconcile us to the loss of such 
 men as Mr. Darracott in the prime of life. If 
 they have done their work, it is their privilege 
 to retire to their rest ; and if we mourn their loss, 
 we should also rejoice that they lived not to sully 
 their reputation, but left behind them such an 
 example as rouses others to follow in their 
 steps. 
 
 The success of Mr. Darracott furnishes the 
 more useful lesson, in consequence of his being 
 below the first class in point of talent. Men 
 of transcendent abilities excite that admiration, 
 which paralyses rather than stimulates. Our 
 self-love excuses the barrenness of our lives, by 
 the plea of incapacity. Here we are taught, 
 however, that not singular abilities, but unusual 
 ardour, produced the extraordinary lives of Luther, 
 Whitefield, and Darracott, while hundreds whose 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 167 
 
 native powers were superior, have lived useless 
 and died unmissed. The learned trifling of many 
 has added nothing to the treasures of literature, 
 but the plain sense and flaming piety of Darra- 
 cott, won multitudes to the society of the just. 
 Perhaps the greater part of those who will shine 
 in heaven with distinguished lustre, as having 
 turned many to righteousness, will be found to 
 be men, not of transcendent powers, but of 
 ordinary capacities improved to the utmost by 
 holy zeal. 
 
 But, perhaps, this train of thinking is neither 
 safe nor correct. If the divine mind has branded 
 sin with the mark of folly, and declared that " the 
 fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom ;" 
 that " a good understanding have all they that 
 do God's commandments ;" if " Jesus Christ was 
 the wisdom of God incarnate ;" then the men 
 who aim most directly at the same object for 
 which Christ sacrificed himself, are of the first 
 order of minds ; and it is a depraved habit of 
 thinking, which ascribes superiority to those, who 
 may complain with the learned Grotius, vitam 
 perdidi operose nihil agendo, " I have thrown 
 away my life, while labouring to do nothing." 
 
 If those who are entering on the work of the 
 ministry, may here learn that, with moderate 
 abilities, they may indulge the hope of distin- 
 guished usefulness ; they see also, that to conse- 
 crate themselves to this object, is to secure a life 
 of happiness. While many are fretting at the 
 weight of their labours, the obscurity of their 
 
168 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 Station, or the smallness of their income ; this 
 good man esteemed it his felicity to have no time 
 to spare ; his honour to hide himself where he 
 might most promote the divine glory ; and his 
 wealth to put others in possession of the durable 
 riches of righteousness. 
 
 Far from repining that he was exiled to the 
 narrow sphere of a little country town, his 
 enlarged heart told him that his station demanded 
 morfe than he had time or strength to accomplish. 
 The pecuniary embarrassments which he felt 
 were but momentary, for his wants were soon 
 supplied ; and while they lasted, the strength of 
 his faith and the ardour of his zeal, prevented 
 them from doing more than proving to his own 
 conscience and to others, that he could willingly 
 make any sacrifice for Christ and his cause. The 
 care of his family, he cheerfully devolved upon 
 him whom he had served in the gospel ; nor was 
 his confidence vain. 
 
 He was too busy to be devoured by ennui, a 
 worm which can feed only on bodies at rest. If 
 the labourer, who has to support a large family, 
 by the work of his own hands, is secured from 
 this torment of the rich, it is a shame for the 
 ministers of Christ, who having the care of 
 immortal souls, should be labourers indeed, to feel 
 their time hang heavy on their hands. Every 
 faithful pastor finds the day too short ; and this is 
 the grand secret of human happiness, to be em- 
 ployed to the utmost in engagements pleasant to 
 our taste. 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARHACOTT. 169 
 
 Nor was Mr. Darracott ever left to complain of 
 want of society, or to seek in worldly company, 
 what he could not find among his flock. As a 
 good shepherd, he loved the sheep which he had 
 undertaken to feed. What they wanted in wealth 
 or mental culture, they made up to him by affec- 
 tion end veneration, and the peculiar interest 
 which is felt, when the language of the Apostle 
 can be adopted. " Ye have acknowledged that we 
 are your rejoicing, e\en as ye also are ours in the 
 day of the Lcrd Jeeus. For what is our hope, our 
 joy, or crown of rejoicing ? Are not even ye in 
 the presence of cur Lord Jesus Christ at his 
 coming ? Fcr ye are cur glory and joy." 
 
 This example of a happy life, w^as crowned by 
 the delights of a still more extraordinary death. 
 Fruitful as religion has been in victories over the 
 last enemy, it would be difficult to select an 
 instance equal in exquisite delights, amidst the 
 most excruciating pains, and in uninterrupted 
 anticipations of eternal triumph through a pro- 
 tracted stiuggle wiih the king of terrors. Many 
 single expressions of dying saints might be 
 menticned, equal to any that dropped from the 
 lips of Risdon Darracott. His biographer is at 
 this moment, indeed, reminded of a valued friend, 
 George Moir, of Aberdeen, in whose house he 
 once lived, and whose death was, like his life, an 
 eminent display of the power of evangelical truth. 
 After having been worn out by long and painful 
 illness, his wife told him that the change of his 
 countenance indicated the speedy approach of 
 15 
 
170 MEMOIllS OF DARfiACOTT. 
 
 death. '* Does it," he replied, *' bring me a 
 glass." On looking at himself in the glass, he 
 was struck with the appearance of a corpse 
 which he saw in his countenance ; but giving the 
 glass back, he said, with calm satisfaction, '* Ah, 
 Death has set his mark on my body, but Christ 
 has set his mark upon my soul." To record this 
 instance of holy triumph over death, is too grate- 
 ful to the writer's feelings, to suggest the necessi- 
 ty of an apology, and he is willing to hope that 
 it may prove so welcome to the Christian reader, 
 as to induce him to say that it needs none. 
 
 Mr. Darracott's death was a long continued 
 scene of delights, which produced a mighty im- 
 pression on all around. The wicked who heard, 
 were compelled to say, " Let me die the death 
 of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." 
 But the righteous, exulted to see the happy con- 
 sequences of a life devoted, as Risdon Darra- 
 cott's had been, to the true end of living, the 
 divine glory and the interests of eternity. They 
 saw that if he was cut off in the midst of his days, 
 which worldly prudence would have said were 
 shortened by his excessive labours, it was by such 
 a death as was itself the prelibation of the glory 
 to which it conducted him, and was sufFicient to 
 induce us, who most fondly cling to life, to ex- 
 claim, " to enjoy such an end, I would, this 
 moment, gladly lie down and die." 
 
 While, indeed, many shrink from the incessant 
 labours of the Christian ministry, and deem them 
 aggravated by the scorn of the world, the censure 
 
MEMOIUS OF DARRACOTT. 171 
 
 of false professors, and an inadequate income • all 
 who faithfully consecrate themselves to the work 
 from pure motive^?, find it sweetened with plea- 
 sures of the most exquisite relish, and, in the end, 
 recompensed with honours and consolations to 
 which tlie glories of the world are infamy, and 
 its delights bitterness. 
 
 The church at Wellington severely felt the 
 loss of its faithful pastor, and found that such 
 men are the. peculiar gifts of the chief Shepherd, 
 and are not bestowed every day. But it is pleas- 
 ant to be able to state, that after many vicissi- 
 tudes, the flock once so highly favoured, is again 
 flourishing. May the spirit of Elijah, as well as 
 his mantle, descend on Elisha ; that the church 
 may glorify Him, who after the lapse of half a 
 century, has given them another Darracott. 
 
EXTRACTS 
 
 FROM 
 
 MR. DARRACOTT'S CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 MR. WALKER, OF TRURO, TO MR. DARRACOTT. 
 
 My dear and highly respected friend, 
 You put m3 under so much obligation, that I 
 will not think of repaying it. You admit me 
 among your friends : as such I shall use you. 
 God be praised, I have not a heart insensible to 
 religious friendship. Yet how short am I of that 
 generous love wherewith you speak. O excuse 
 my coldness. Dr. Doddridge was not my tutor. 
 Gracious man ! I love him more, since I have 
 known you. O the living epistle ! it is that 
 which speaks. 
 
 Thank you, dear sir, for the correspondence 
 you have so kindly begun : may the divine grace 
 direct it to mutual usefulness ! But I insist upon 
 one preliminary ;/ that you do not think and 
 speak so highly of m3. In truth, I cannot bear 
 it. The bent of my heart, for many years, was 
 after praise ; nor dare I trust it now, with ap- 
 probations so warm, so affectionate as yours. 
 You have raised my earnest expectations by 
 
MICMOIKS OF DARKACOTT. 173 
 
 the promise made me, of the success of your 
 ministry. Accounts of the work of grace, draw 
 out my soul in praise and love to the great Re- 
 deemer, quicken my diligence, and direct me 
 more wisely to correspond with the will of the 
 Spirit, in my ministrations. 
 
 With these views, 1 sit down to make you more 
 particularly acquainted than you are by mine to 
 good Dr. Guise, with what God has done for us 
 here. 
 
 It was in the beginning of the year 1748, that 
 a young man, who had been a soldier in the regi- 
 ment raised by Lord Falmouth, and during that 
 time, had given himself up to the too common 
 vices of that kind of people, was awakened and 
 brought under great terrors, in the hearing of one 
 of my sermons. This was my first, and as such 
 my dearest child. I watched and rejoiced over 
 him. Suffer me to indulge the fondness of a 
 father over my dear departed boy. With thank- 
 ful consolation, I reflect how God wrought in him 
 and by him. His conduct drew the attention of 
 the whole town. God left him about a year and 
 a half with me : during which time, with an 
 unshaken firmness of faith, and constancy in con- 
 duct, amidst perpetual opposition, and the strife 
 of tongues, he lived (I trust) a Christian. About 
 the end of that year, some other young men, con- 
 vinced by his example, applied to me. And 
 before his death, which was in June, 1750, their 
 number was considerably enlarged ; and both 
 women and men (for the most part young persons) 
 15* 
 
174 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT* 
 
 had shewn great concern about salvation. But I 
 think the principal work began immediately upon 
 his death, which begat a visibly anxious distress 
 upon the whole town. I judged a sermon requi- 
 site upon such an occasion. The blessings of the 
 Spirit were very remarkably with the providence 
 and the word ; for, quickly after, the numbers 
 which applied to me daily, were so large, that I 
 was obliged to rent (for more convenience) two 
 rooms at a distance from my lodging, being a 
 boarder, wherein to see them. For this year 
 past, having a house of my own, I see them 
 at home. 
 
 I know nothing particular in this work, except 
 it may be, that the far greater part have been 
 brought to the acknowledgment of the truth, in 
 a very gentle way. Very few have been struck 
 into terrors ; though some have. The most have 
 been impressed with a sort of mournful uneasi- 
 ness ; and have been brought to Christ in a 
 sorrowing kind of way. Yet I have reason to 
 believe, that their convictions have been deep, 
 since, of the multitudes which have drawn back, 
 I cannot find above one or two, who have been 
 able to shake them quite off. Possibly it may be 
 added to this, that they are importunately carried 
 out after inward holiness, striving against in- 
 dwelling sin. Known only to God are all his 
 works ; yet in general, we can guess at the 
 reason of such singularities, admiring the wisdom 
 and goodness of God. May not the gentleness of 
 this procedure, and its tendency, be in a corres- 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOtr. 175 
 
 pondence of the Spirit with the manner of 
 preaching ? Mine hath been a display of the 
 law and the gospel ; holding forth the promises 
 of the one, and the threatenings of the other : 
 and the corruption of nature, and the necessity 
 of a new heart, as the great fruit and evidence 
 of faith in Jesus Christ, have been in the fullest 
 manner explained and insisted on. 
 
 Sometimes the pourings out of the Spirit seem 
 to have been suspended, and we have lain under 
 a lamentable coldness ; till the falling away of 
 some hath provoked the zeal of others, and we 
 have been blessed with fresh influences. From 
 too probable reasons, I am inclined to charge 
 these declensions upon my own want of fortitude 
 and resoluteness in opposing the torrent of vice, 
 and the influence and faces of some great ones 
 who live among us. In which I am the more 
 confirmed from hence, that such decays we have 
 not sufiered in any considerable degree, since we 
 have more boldly made profession of ourselves in 
 the lately erected society. Yours truly, 
 
 S. Walker. 
 Truro, March 5, 1755. 
 My very dear Sir, 
 
 I laboured hard to get an hour or two for you, 
 last week, but it would not be, so I must be 
 content. Yet often was I with you in spirit, for 
 all that, praying for and joying over you. It is 
 not just when I would, I can enjoy the pleasure,, 
 which writing my friend gives me. Then I enjoy 
 you most, when I hear or write. Your health is 
 
176 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 a great concern of mine. I am pleasing myself 
 with the hope, that your tar-water, and the nursing 
 of good Mrs. D. will establish you. Pray, doth 
 she drive you to bed in good season ? I have 
 been so much hurt by the contrary practice, that 
 I fear you may be so too. It is hard to break 
 the neck of that ill custom. Men that think 
 much, and labour hard, must have sleep, their 
 faculties will not do without it, and, on the whole, 
 it is no time lost, to crazy constitutions especially. 
 Good Joseph Allen, and our dear Dr. D. might 
 sleep but five hours. I thought three or four years 
 ago, I could do with six, but it will not be. 
 
 You revived and supported me, with the letter 
 Mr. Cruttenden gave you about my affairs. He 
 is a judicious man, indeed, though I see he con- 
 ceives by far too high notions of us, for which I 
 know I am indebted to the overflowing heart of 
 Mr. Darracott. The favours he designs me, I 
 shall thankfully accept, and will quickly write 
 him, which I hope he will allow me to do. You 
 have his letter returned, with a thousand thanks ; 
 after I had taken a copy of all which relates to 
 us ; for which, I presume upon your pardon, as 
 also that I have kept it so long. 
 
 With it you have also Mr. Hayward's, from 
 whom I have since received one to the same 
 effect, and answered it, and that in the affirma- 
 tive too, notwithstanding you set me so bad an ex- 
 ample, and deterred me with your false modesty. 
 You are certainly in mistake upon that point. 
 Without having high conceit of our talents, we 
 
MEMOIRS OP DARRACOTT. 
 
 177 
 
 may use those we have, when Christ calls for 
 them. I am very sensible that many every 
 where, are of ability, and capacity, and grace, 
 fitter for this business than myself; but still, that 
 does not satisfy me, when I am called on, to deny 
 doing what I can. 
 
 Give me leave to transcribe what I wrote Mr. 
 Hayward on this head. " 1 am peculiarly deligh- 
 ted that we are forgetting our prejudices, on the 
 one part and the other ; and that God hath put it 
 into the hearts of many, of various denominations, 
 to join their hands together for the support of the 
 only cause, which should be maintained with 
 warmth, and can never be yielded without the 
 most ruinous consequences. The scheme you 
 have in hand, hath been mentioned in my 
 prayers, Mr. Darracott having communicated it 
 to me. I have great confidence in the success of 
 it, both from the evident simplicity of the design, 
 and upon that account, from the hope that the 
 members will be kept from difference. You 
 would have me one. I will tell you plainly, I 
 dont think myself qualified for it, being one of 
 lower attainments than you think of, and yet, 
 since you lay it upon me, and the design is so 
 excellent, I dont know that with good conscience 
 I can decline. Whatever I have and am, all 
 belong to Christ ; and if he shall be pleased to 
 make use of my little, 1 dare not refuse. The 
 safest way, therefore, for the work and me will be 
 this, that I transmit to you my Essay in good 
 season, laying it on you to determine, if it be fit 
 
178 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 to be made use of or not ; and insisting that you 
 use so much freedom with it, as not to publish it, 
 if it be not likely to do service : which I should 
 be a strange creature indeed, if I should take 
 amiss ; and I beg you to believe, I shall not. I 
 would not that the success of your undertaking 
 should be stopt by compliments of any kind." 
 
 Indeed, I have much hope the thing will do 
 good, and only fear lest any notions may thrust in 
 and disturb it. To prevent which, I have pro- 
 posed to Mr. Heyward, that a material scheme 
 be first drawn up, which may make a sort of 
 practical body in the whole of it, and determine 
 the points upon which every member is to write. 
 And now. Sir, I desire to know what you have to 
 say for yourself ; and to assign me one little 
 reason why you should decline that, which you 
 press me to. 
 
 Your little tracts are well collected, and will 
 
 make a valuable addition to what I commonly 
 
 distribute. The Compassionate Address, S/-c. is 
 
 the very thing I have needed ; familiar, earnest, 
 
 awakening : just fit to be put into the hands of a 
 
 careless world. I esteem greatly all the rest in 
 
 their kind, but they are not so much needed. I 
 
 have seen none of them before, except Doddridge 
 
 on Family Prayer. Pray, who wrote the Life of 
 
 Faith? I never saw any thing equal to it. The 
 
 Guide to Heaven, and Example of Heavenly 
 
 Contemplation, are of your preparing. Both 
 
 of them, I think, are suited to do much good. 
 
 I am peculiarly obliged, for the trouble you 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 179 
 
 have given yourself about my sermons ; and for 
 your speedy transmitting them to the good 
 Doctor, I fear it will give too much pain to him 
 to read them, which yet, as I have not heard from 
 
 him, I suspect he is doing. —So far I had 
 
 written six days ago : but could go no farther, so 
 continually am I taken up. 
 
 Since the above, I have a letter from my dear 
 old Doctor. He gives me a character of my 
 sermons, which makes me hope they will be of 
 some service, by the blessing of God, and deter- 
 mines me to print them without delay. You 
 mentioned a Printer to me, and I thanked you 
 for your recommendation ; but' I believe did not 
 mention a condition, upon which only I could 
 accept it, which was, in case Mr. Cruden was so 
 disordered, as not to be able to engage in it ; for 
 to him, application had been made a great while 
 before. I have, last week, a letter from him, and 
 Dr. Guise tells me, he is as capable as ever. 
 I am quite ignorant of every step to be taken 
 upon this occasion, and have requested my 
 honoured friend, the Doctor, (to whose kindness 
 I am above measure indebted) to give me direc- 
 tions, and to take order about it. When I hear 
 from him again, I shall be able to inform you in 
 what manner, and when they will be printed. 
 Meantime, my dear friend, help them with your 
 prayers, that they may be made instrumental to 
 do some little service in these evil days. 
 
 I have a strong desire, and some kind of hope, 
 that my brethren in the establishment, may have 
 
180 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 the curiosity to see, what so strange a man, as I 
 am commonly accounted, may have to say. O 
 may God bring the doctrines, which I trust they 
 contain, home to their hearts ! I would that all 
 were even as I am ; but these peculiarly, because 
 they have opportunities of usefulness beyond any 
 other. ' As I am,' did I say ? I am ashamed of the 
 expression. I would wish them, zealous, self- 
 denied ministers of Christ, a character which ill 
 suits me. Alas, my friend, what shall I do with 
 this wretched heart ? Surely I am without hope 
 but in Christ, being in myself vile beyond imagi- 
 nation ; too, too apt to be vain of what is but 
 given me, and whfch I ought to use with fear and 
 trembling to God's honour ; apt to complain 
 under many dispensations ; slothful, and ready to 
 fear where no fear is. Yet I find, his grace is 
 sufficient for me, and daily cause he gives me to 
 wonder, upon the review of what he is doing for 
 my soul. My dear friend, the more I know my 
 heart, the less I like it. Fallen man is a monster 
 indeed ; if, at least, others are like me. Be at a 
 little pains to lay bare my corrupted heart. Let 
 me have a share of your experience in self-know- 
 ledge. It will be peculiarly agreeable and profit- 
 able ; and I assure you, very needful at this time, 
 when such men as Dr. Guise approve my labours. 
 You expect always to know how we stand 
 Here, much as usual. But elsewhere, we seem to 
 get ground. My dear Mitchel writes me, that his 
 company is advanced to thirty. You would love 
 that dear man, could you see him. Penrose too, 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 181 
 
 hath a larger number about him, and I am full of 
 hope frcm that side. But, my friend, don't say 
 much of this at present. Only pray for us, and 
 for the Divine Blessing on our meeting, the 18th 
 instant, which will be our first club. 
 
 I had thought of writing you a more particular 
 letter; but must defer that, till I have more 
 leisure to do it. Meantime, let us not be forget- 
 ful of each other, nor of the work of the Lord, 
 praying always for the building up of Jerusalem. 
 Believe me, yours in all sincerity, 
 
 S. Walker. 
 
 P. S. Favour me with an account what the 
 Preaching Bible is, Mr. Cruttenden mentions : 
 and what it may cost. 
 
 Truro, January 24, 1757. 
 Very dear Sir, 
 
 Be assured I am not pleased, when I am de- 
 laying to write m^ dear friend ; especially, when 
 the Father of mercies and consolations has put it 
 in my power to revive your spirit with glad 
 tidings, and to stir Up your supplications on our 
 behalf. I doubt not you will have received from 
 London, a copy of my letter to Mr. Sheafe, and 
 through him to the Society, thanking them for a 
 generous supply of books, and in which, I had 
 opportunity of acquainting them with their provi- 
 dential arrival, and the desirable use made of them. 
 
 Soon after that date, the route came, and they 
 
 left us the 19th instant, after nine wrecks stay. 
 
 You would have been moved at our parting. I 
 
 called them together the evening before, with a 
 
 16 
 
182 MEMOIRS OF DA.RRACOTT. 
 
 good number of our people, in the society-room. 
 We recommended them to God, and the power of 
 his grace, and made a parting exhortation for this 
 world. Had you seen their countenances, what 
 thankfulness, love, sorrow, and joy, sat upon 
 them ! They hoped they might bring forth some 
 fruit ; they hoped to meet us again at the right 
 hand of Jesus in his illustrious day ! Amen, 
 Amen. Some of them could not speak, their 
 hearts were full, and we parted without a w^ord. 
 I have never seen such a distressing, comfortable 
 scene. They went off, next morning, praising 
 God for us ; and, when just losing sight of the 
 town, they looked back, and said again and again, 
 " God bless Truro." " Desire Mr. Walker to 
 raise some recruits for us among the soldiers," 
 was the last message by some of our young men, 
 who brought them some miles on their way. 
 
 Well, sir, the same evening, a party came from 
 Falmouth, to stay the night. Six of these volun- 
 tarily came to me ; were much impressed ; and I 
 gave them a letter to the others. But I was not 
 satisfied I had not endeavoured to see more of 
 them that evening, the thought of which had 
 escaped me. I was determined to attempt it, 
 next night, when another party from Hilstone, 
 about twenty miles off, were to quarter with us. 
 I sent out the press-gang, as they call our people 
 of the society ; because when I have any particular 
 exercises, either at the society-room, or my own 
 house, they go out, and bring in all they meet. 
 Our new guests were glad of the news, and in 
 
 t'' 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 183 
 
 half an hour, my boys had collected not less than 
 threescore of them. I was to speak but once to 
 them, and see them no more. The most had 
 never heard of Christ. It is no wonder, if even 
 my cold heart was a little stirred on such an occa- 
 sion. Indeed, it was very striking. I could have 
 spoke and prayed all night. There were many 
 tears among them. I never saw any thing 
 more promising. They went away to the others, 
 with a pamphlet or two each. So they are all at 
 Dock together, where I am sure you will pray 
 for them. Some are still with us, the present 
 objects of my care and prayers. They are but 
 few ; and so, much on duty. However, I saw 
 more than a dozen of them last night about me'; 
 who seemed to receive the word, with a sort of 
 readiness ; and have promised to be with me 
 often, — I have inclosed a letter from one of them, 
 written since they went to Dock, which I believe 
 will rejoice you ; and which I beg you to return. 
 The writer, I think, when he came hither, knew 
 little more of Christ, than if he had lived in China. 
 Indeed, he is a man of excellent natural parts, 
 and the deep distress of soul he has been under, 
 particularly the first month, led him to the most 
 attentive application. Lochyan told me, he would 
 soon write his father. Your letter to him was 
 very seasonable. I read it to all the soldiers. 
 That young man was in a promising way when 
 he left us. 1 have great confidence in him and 
 joy over him. 
 
 I could say a great deal more : but am just 
 
 '^ 
 
184 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 going to meet some of our society, in a private 
 exercise. The Lord be with you in your soul 
 and ministry. Forget not at the throne of grace, 
 Your very affectionate brother in the best bonds, 
 
 S. Walker. 
 
 rROM THE REV. MR. JONES, OF ST. SAVIOUr's, 
 SOUTHWARK, TO MR. DARRACOTT. 
 
 Castle-street, in the Park, Southwark^ 
 March 21, 1758. 
 Reverend and honoured Sir, 
 I am ashamed to own I received your letter, 
 because the very acknowledgment will accuse 
 me of ill manners and ingratitude : to plead my 
 multiplicity of business, and very frequent ill- 
 ness, would be but a poor excuse, and betray a 
 very bad cause. Shall I then, relying on dear 
 Mr. Darracott's indulgence, honestly own the 
 truth ? Two things have conspired to make me 
 act thus rudely by my honoured correspondent. 
 They are indolence and pride. The former of 
 these makes me very averse to writing to any 
 one, and the latter has hitherto prevented my 
 answering yours. Indeed, dear sir, your letter 
 quite disconcerted me ; and finding how high 
 (much too high) an opinion Mr. Darracott had 
 entertained of me, I was really afraid to unde- 
 ceive him, and was very unwilling to convince 
 him, by my letters, how much he was mistaken. 
 A consciousness of my insufficiency made me 
 wish to preserve Mr. Darracott's esteem, and 
 at the same time not expose myself to so dis- 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 186 
 
 eerning a mind as his ; but I have since found 
 that my heart (as usual) has greatly deceived 
 me ; what I vainly thought was the effect of 
 modesty, I now perceive to be rank, sinful pride. 
 A desire to keep self unexposed has made me 
 behave thus unhandsomely to an honoured fa- 
 ther in Christ ; and when I consider how many 
 useful and instructive letters of dear Mr. Darra- 
 €ott's I may have lost, I cannot but repent of 
 my past misconduct. Having now confessed my 
 crime, I already anticipate my honoured friend's 
 forgiveness, and think myself assured of a recon- 
 ciliation ; in this confidence I will proceed, 
 without farther apology for inability. 
 
 I think myself happy, dear sir, in the notice 
 you take of me in your letter, and can only say, 
 that if you would have me go forward, and wish 
 to see me become an useful minister of the church 
 of Christ, yourself, dear sir, (under God) must 
 contribute to it, by favouring me with your 
 advice, from time to time, by giving me such 
 instruction as you must be sensible I want, — such 
 as I humbly hope, I shall receive with thank- 
 fulness, and follow with pleasure. You see, sir, 
 how I am drawing you into a frequent cor- 
 respondence ; let me hope to see it begun by a 
 speedy answer to this, which, God willing, shall 
 meet with as speedy and punctual a reply. O, 
 how do I honour (I had almost said envy) Mr. 
 Darracott his warmth of heart and glow of zeaJ, 
 who can thus rejoice at the enlargement of the 
 Mediator's kingdom, and with pleasure own his 
 16* 
 
186 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 Master's image, though he finds it stamped on 
 the coarsest subject ! I can say that I have 
 much to be thankful for to rich, sovereign 
 grace ; but, alas ! so cold, so frozen, so lifeless, 
 is my heart, that the vital heavenly flame wiiich 
 our dear Immanuel has kindled there, is too, too 
 often, ahnost extinguished. I want more zeal 
 for God's glory ; more love for precious souls. 
 Another complaint I have to make is, that thii 
 cursed self will put in its claim for the honour of 
 what the Mediator works in and by me. 
 
 These, dear sir, I can truly say, are weights and 
 
 clogs upon my mind. Think for me, pray for me, 
 
 and give me some directions how to keep this fire 
 
 alive, how to revive a dying zeal, how to lie low 
 
 in my own esteem ; in short, how to fly from self. 
 
 I need not tell you what a real benefit you will be 
 
 the instrument of conveying to me. Thus, sir, 
 
 you see I have cut out work for your next letter 
 
 — let me expect it soon ! You desire in yours to 
 
 have the particulars of my success in the ministry. 
 
 This, God willing, shall be the subject of my 
 
 next. Accept, dear sir, of my sincerest thanks 
 
 for the favour of your books. May our dear 
 
 Master accompany them with his blessing. Mr. 
 
 Mason, a tradesman, is the author of the " Plain 
 
 Sermon for Little Children ;" have you any of 
 
 them ? if not, please to let me know. I am, 
 
 dear sir, your affectionate brother and servant in 
 
 Christ, 
 
 T. Jones. 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 187 
 
 The following is thought to be from the cler- 
 gyman, who was won to the Redeemer by Mr. 
 Williams's conversation, as mentioned in his 
 Diary. A new and enlarged edition of which is 
 just published, by his descendant, Mr. Hanbury. 
 Very dear Sir, 
 I received your kind letter, and am greatly 
 obliged to you for those overtures of your friend- 
 ship and correspondence ; I embrace it with the 
 utmost pleasure. Your letter, indeed, brought me 
 melancholy tidings; the death of dear Williams 
 affected me very nearly, and many tears of deep 
 concern have I shed on that account, for he was 
 my dearest friend, nay, father : he was related to 
 me in the nearest manner, and, I trust, our hearts 
 were united in the indissoluble bonds of Chris- 
 tian love. He is no more to instruct me in person ; 
 yet, though dead, he speaketh, and his words 
 come to me attended with a peculiar power ; for 
 since the receipt of yours, I have read over some 
 of his valuable letters to me, and every thing he 
 says comes home to my heart ; the awfulness of 
 that reflection of his being now with God adds 
 weight to his words. Oh ! what reason have I 
 to be thankful to the Almighty for my acquaint- 
 ance with that dear man ! Oh ! that I may re- 
 tain a grateful sense of it, and feci my heart glow 
 with love to God for his immense favours to so 
 worthless and insensible a creature ! O Lord, who 
 can fathom the depth of thy mercy to a wretch 
 who has merited thine everlasting indignation ; 
 and, had not thy grace been abundant, whose 
 
1 88 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 crimes would have called down, before now, thine 
 avenging hand to have destroyed such a daring 
 worm from off' the face of the earth ! But thou, 
 O merciful Lord, hast delivered, and I trust will 
 yet deliver me. 
 
 But I beg, dear sir, as I have lost the prayers 
 of one wrestling Jacob, you would be so good as 
 to supply his place, and remember me when you 
 approach the throne of grace, particularly that I 
 
 ♦ may walk in the light of God's countenance, and 
 
 that my corruptions, which darken my sight, may 
 be destroyed. I have, indeed, a wicked heart, 
 may God cleanse it, and break down every idol 
 that pretends to rival his reign there : it is my 
 constant prayer that the Redeemer's kingdom 
 may be established in my soul. If I know my- 
 self; I think that I desire, above all things, to 
 live to God only, and to be dead to self, to the 
 world, to its censures, to its applauses ; but, oh, 
 'tis hard ! yet we have this comfort, that we can 
 do all things through Christ strengthening us. 
 
 You speak of a parcel, sir^ that Mr. Rawlings 
 has sent you for me, it will indeed come to me 
 very acceptable ; and, dear sir, whatever you will 
 be pleased to send, will be most gratefully re- 
 ceived. You know the extensive benefit your 
 kind services that way may be of, in assisting 
 a mere novice with supplies to feed many hun- 
 gering and thirsting souls ; for I can say of my 
 congregations, they hear with the utmost atten- 
 . tion, and seem to be conscious it is for their 
 
 wt souls ; and, thank God, they have no prejudice, 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT* 18^ 
 
 but on the contrary, a tender love for me, and 
 honour me for my work's sake. I hope I shall 
 be kept faithful, and deliver them the v^^hole 
 counsel of God ; and whatever helps my dear 
 friends will contribute to the execution of my 
 desire, I shall most thankfully acknowledge. We 
 are to meet at Bath to-morrow ; I believe that 
 there will be seven or eight of us. I hope that 
 God will abundantly prosper it. At the last 
 meeting, business prevented me from attending. 
 Of our method of proceeding, I will take an 
 opportunity to give an account. 
 
 I had the pleasure of breakfasting with Lady 
 Huntingdon last Wednesday, and took the liberty 
 of shewing her your account of Mr. Williams* 
 death. 
 
 With thanks for your prayers, and kind wishes 
 on my behalf, I beg leave to subscribe myself, 
 dear and reverend sir, your affectionate friend, 
 and unworthy brother, J. Brown. 
 
 Chewton, Jan. 11, 1757. 
 
 DR. GIBBONS TO MR. DARRACOTT. 
 
 Reverend and dear Sir, 
 Though I have delayed answering your letter, 
 yet the delay has not arisen from any thing like 
 an intention first to interrupt, and then to con- 
 clude our correspondence. Your correspondence 
 is such as breathes of heaven ; and how much do 
 I want of heavenly breath, that my poor dying 
 spark may be quickened and inflamed ! Believe 
 me, sir, that I am a strange composition ; some- 
 thing, I trust, like the divine life I do feel, but 
 
190 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 how is it damped, clouded, and depressed, by 
 creature-attachments, and violent tendencies to 
 mortal, if not to sinful objects ! Of late, I have 
 been greatly afflicted. My pulpit, where I trust I 
 have found some divine enlargement and pleasure, 
 has been a place of terror and distress to me. 
 Foreign, impertinent, and even worse thoughts 
 than these, have broke in upon my mind while I 
 have been praying, and preaching, and have 
 seemed as if they would be uttered, and thus has 
 my mind been thrown into confusion and horror, 
 when it should have been all divine attention and 
 devotion. Through mercy, last Lord's-day, I was 
 something better, but I need help ; help me then, 
 my friend, with your prayers. I believe a nervous 
 complaint in my head may contribute its part 
 towards this affliction ; but I have been ready to 
 think that the enemy of souls, and of all righteous- 
 ness, has a concern in this disorder, and that he 
 may possibly make weak nerves the place where 
 he erects his gloomy banners, and whence he 
 shoots off his fiery darts. I design to go into the 
 country in a little time, and to make use of the 
 cold bath. Oh ! that I may be able to derive a 
 spiritual benefit from this affliction. 
 Yours truly, 
 
 T. Gibbons. 
 
 MR. BENJAMIN FORFITT TO MR. DARRACOTT. 
 
 Dear and reverend sir, 
 I received your kind letter, and rejoice in that 
 superiority of mind which you express above the 
 transitory events of a fading world, and the feli- 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 191 
 
 city you enjoy in the sense of the divine love 
 and goodness. I cannot but think that spirits 
 born of God, and preparing for his glory, may 
 well be contented v^^ith any state of being here, 
 which the wisdom and love of their heavenly 
 Father sees fit for them ; especially if he so far 
 honours them as to make them the instruments 
 of his praise. I confess when I see Christians, 
 who profess their hopes of a heavenly happiness, 
 repining and complaining under the tolerable in- 
 conveniences of life, or pursuing the wealth or 
 pleasures of the world with eager and unsatisfied 
 desires, it gives me a narrow idea of their know- 
 ledge either of God or themselves : a little por- 
 tion of the world will satisfy the real wants of 
 nature ; and I am sure nothing but the infinite, 
 eternal good, can be a suitable happiness to the 
 immortal spirit of man. Through the divine 
 grace, I trust the language of my heart is, 
 
 I envy not the rich man's wealth, 
 
 Or pine to see his store ; 
 With what I have, I'm pleased much, 
 
 With what I hope for, more. » 
 
 • 
 
 I am not for a voluntary poverty, because the 
 bounties of Providence may be so beneficially 
 applied to the relief of others ; but I have often 
 thought a low estate honourable, as it is' the 
 nearest conformity to the condition of our blessed 
 Lord and Master here upon earth ; and who 
 would not rejoice in any degree of similitude to 
 a pattern so divine, and a person so dear ! But 
 
192 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 I must forbear, lest I should contradict by mj 
 practice, what I profess by my pen. If my long 
 silence needs an apology, my good friend will 
 please to accept this, that he would have been 
 troubled with an epistle ?ooner, had 1 any oppor- 
 tunity of tendering him any service therein, and 
 any religious reflections which my correspond- 
 ence could produce, are doubtless rendered 
 needless by the superior possessions of his own 
 mind. 
 
 As to the books for the poor you mentioned, I 
 find myself prevented at present in that piece of 
 service, by our friend Mr. Cruttenden. Permit 
 me, sir, to subscribe myself, with cordial and 
 Christian affection. 
 
 Your friend and servant, 
 
 Benjamin Forfitt. 
 
 MR. HERVEY TO MR. DARRACOTT. 
 
 Dear Mr. Darracott, 
 I have received your charitable present, and 
 have blessed God for giving you a willing mind, 
 nci only to promise, but to perform. I thank 
 you very sincerely, for your animating and in- 
 structive letter. So far am I from being offended 
 at your affectionate plainness, that I wish for and 
 beg a continuation of it. Yes, indeed, I wish 
 that you would continue the correspondence, and 
 communicate to me, whatever you think may 
 awaken my too sleepy soul, and direct my raw 
 and inexperienced youth. You have many valuable 
 opportunities of getting, what I find to be very 
 
WEWOIKS OF DARRACO'lT. 193 
 
 necessary for a promoter of piety, the wisdom of 
 the serpent. The worthy Doctor, who is so well 
 acquainted with books and men, can tell you what 
 are the most likely baits to catch souls. What 
 pious and successful fraud the Apostle meant, 
 when he said, " I caught you with guile." 
 
 The preceding was written a considerable time 
 ago. But I was prevented once, and again, from 
 finishing and sending it. Can you pardon, dear 
 sir, my seemingly disrespectful delay ? I know 
 that you both can, and will pardon it. Never- 
 theless, I shall be heartily glad to have my pardon 
 signed and sealed by your own hand. I hope God, 
 the merciful and gracious God, who put it into 
 your mind to give me advice, will enable me to 
 take it. 
 
 Now, that you admonish me of what is right, 
 I remember that I have done wrong. The books 
 which I had lately to dispose of, were not distri- 
 buted, till the day before my departure. So that 
 my poor friends could have no time to read, 
 neither could I have any, to remind them of the 
 solemn and strict account they must, one day, 
 make of their use of this talent. This I own (oh ! 
 may the consideration humble me !) was not the 
 part of a good and faithful steward ; who ought to 
 make the best of all that belongs to his Lord, 
 and (after his own excellent example) " see that 
 nothing be lost." I hope I shall look upon 
 the practice of the careful husbandman, as my 
 direction in this particular. Of whom it is said, 
 after he had cast seed into the ground, " that he 
 17 
 
194 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 rose, night and day." I suppose, to look to his 
 crop, and to mark how it came up. That he 
 might have joy of it, if kindly and plenteous; or 
 take some proper methods with it, if thin and 
 choked up with weeds. 
 
 I wish you would suggest to me, what I must do, 
 to further the gospel of God my Saviour. I employ 
 every day an hour or more (which I think is as much 
 time as I can spare from my studies)with some well- 
 inclined people of the poorer sort. We read Mr. 
 Henry on the Holy Scriptures, and pray together. 
 There is one set in one part of the city, and 
 another in another. I meet at a neighbour's 
 house. Oh ! that I could also open my mouth 
 as he did ; so boldly, so powerfully ! Who will 
 give me a little portion of that knowledge, which 
 he had in the mysteries of the gospel ? that I may 
 declare them to the people, clearly and con- 
 vincingly. Above all, who will give me seme of 
 that humble zeal, that sacred and illustrious fer- 
 vour, which animated him who laboured more 
 abundantly than all the apostles ? 
 
 I am preparing to enter into holy orders, and to 
 take upon me the work of the ministry. That 
 great, wonderful, and important work ! So that 
 now I have the utmost reason to cry out, as the 
 distressed fishermen did to their partners, " come 
 and help me." Help me with your prayers to 
 the Lord God my Saviour, that I " may receive 
 the Holy Ghost, not many days hence," by the 
 laying on of hands ; even " the spirit of wisdom 
 and understanding, the spirit of counsel and 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 195 
 
 might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of 
 the Lord." That he may be in me, rest upon 
 me, and abide with me for ever. Making me fit, 
 every way qualified, and thoroughly furnished 
 for this sacred function. That I may fully dis- 
 charge the duties of my great vocation, to the 
 glory and immortal honour of God, and to the 
 endless felicity of many of the sons of men. 
 
 Dear sir, pray give my humble service, and 
 best thanks to the Doctor. And beg of him, when 
 he is in the acceptable time, to remember me, 
 who am in the time of need. If he has any word 
 of exhortation ; but, especially if he has any 
 treasures of instruction, proper for a candidate of 
 the ministerial office, how glad should I be, if he 
 would please to impart them ! and how gratefully 
 should such a favour be ahvixye acknowledged, by 
 his, and your affectionate servant and brother in 
 Jesus Christ, 
 
 J. Hervey. 
 
 Lincoln College, Oxon. Sept. 1, 1736. 
 
 MR. DARRACOTT TO MRS. TRISTRAM. 
 
 Wellington, Jan. 24. 
 Dearest Madam, 
 God is adding fresh seals to my ministry con- 
 tinually, which are my exceeding great joy, 
 amidst all the discouragement, and all the opposi- 
 tion I meet with. Thus, indeed, the Lord is 
 gracious to me, and I look upon it, intended as a 
 support to me, under what I am suffering for his 
 sake ; which is a little, having every evil thing 
 
196 
 
 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 falsely said of me, and seeing many, that were 
 once my friends, become shy of me, for no other 
 reason, but because I profess a little more, though 
 not a thousandth part enough, zeal for Christ. So 
 I find it daily in these parts, and so I found it, 
 when I was last at Barnstaple, where several, 
 that once seemed warm friends, appeared cool 
 towards me. But be it so. Hard as it is to 
 flesh and blood, I hope I have so learned the 
 worth of Christ, as to be able to give up the 
 dearest friends and relations for him, and to 
 count myself happy too, if I had not a friend upon 
 earth, if Christ were my friend. 
 
 But he is not so far trying me yet, I have many 
 friends, and such as are his ; among whom I think 
 myself particularly honoured, and would be very 
 thankful, in having such valuable ones as Madam 
 Tristram, Mr. Welman and his lady. Nor do I 
 doubt I shall ever lose such friendship for my 
 warmest regards for Christ, when I have reason 
 to believe, he is so precious to their souls. As 
 for you, dear madam, you have long shewn, and 
 oh, may you yet much longer, a becoming zeal 
 for Christ ; and may your spirit breathe in your 
 latest posterity. May none of the dear family of 
 Poundisford be ever ashamed of Christ, or ever 
 backward to bear their testimony to his glorious, 
 though in the eyes of the world, despised interest. 
 But may the line of Welman, as well as that of 
 Hanmer and Tristram, make a bright figure at 
 the right hand of Christ, in the great day, for their 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 197 
 
 warm and zealous attachment to him, and his 
 interest, here below. 
 
 But it is time for me to conclude : which I 
 cannot, without saying one word of my dear wife, 
 who is much out of order, and very low spirited, 
 and concludes within herself she shall not sur- 
 vive this time. You may easily think how this 
 impresses us both. Pray for her, dear madam, 
 especially that her faith may not fail, and that 
 God may be better than her fears. I wish for her 
 sake, as well as my own, you and the dear 
 family were returned. Such company has the 
 greatest tendency to revive the spirits- We 
 both join in the most respectful and most 
 cordial services to you and dear Mr. Welman 
 and his lady, with remembrances to the dear 
 little ones, whom may God long preserve. You 
 have all my warmest prayers^ and oh, remember 
 in yours, dear madam, your most unworthy, 
 most affectionate, and most obliged, humble 
 servant, 
 
 Risdon Darracott. 
 
 p. s. Mr. Fawcett is now here, in order to 
 preach for me to-morrow. He presents his 
 tender of services to the good family. There are 
 some great revolutions in Taunton with respect 
 to him, which he intends to give you a letter 
 of next week ; he has had an invitation to Kid- 
 derminster. 
 
 17* 
 
198 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 MRS. ANN DUTTON TO MR. DARRACOTT. 
 
 Great Gransden, near Caxton, 
 Huntingdonshire^ September 6, 1744, 
 Reverend and dear sir, 
 
 The most acceptable favour of your last 
 kind letter, I received with joy, and return 
 humble thanks. The account you gave me of the 
 Lord's loving kindness towards you, rejoices my 
 heart, excites my praises, and animates my 
 prayers. Such grace as you are favoured with 
 the displays of, is every way worthy of an infinite 
 God ! You justly wonder at its distinguishing 
 nature ; that while others of the Lord's servants 
 mournfully say, " who hath believed our report ?" 
 you have the joy to see sinners the chief, con- 
 verted by your ministry ! Indeed, sir, this is a 
 wide stretch of the exceeding riches of boundless 
 grace ! Of that grace, which hath saved your 
 soul, which hath chosen you to ministerial service, 
 and which delights to honour you with eminent 
 usefulness ; to your exceeding joy, and to the 
 eternal praise of its immense glory ! 
 
 Think it not strange that I style it a display of 
 that same grace which saveth you. For though 
 your soul might have been saved eternally, if you 
 had been one of the least, and last of the members 
 of Christ's body, and if you had not been called 
 to the work of the ministry ; yet, as God, from 
 the beginning, had chosen you to salvation, 
 through faith in his Son, he held a counsel in him- 
 self, before the world was, how he might display 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 199 
 
 towards you, the exceeding riches of his salvation- 
 grace ; and infinite wisdom pitched upon this 
 way ; and infinite grace made a resolve concern- 
 ing it. As if the Lord should say, " I will 
 commend my free, sovereign love, the exceeding 
 riches of my boundless grace, towards that dear 
 object of my heart ; not only in saving his soul 
 from the misery of sin, death, and hell, unto the 
 joy and liberty of faith and holiness, and unto 
 heaven's glory at last ; but I will save him unto 
 eminent service to win many souls unto my Son 
 Jesus, who shall be his exceeding joy, and as 
 jewels to enrich his crown of glory, and make it 
 massy to a blest eternity. He shall be a minister, 
 a successful minister of the gospel of the blessed 
 God. I will shew him such wonders of special 
 grace, that shall overcome his heart with my 
 infinite kindness, and shine in his salvation with 
 a distinguished brightness, to his ineflfable bliss, 
 and my eternal praise. He shall see how freely 
 and greatly an infinite God can love ; what 
 miracles of grace and mercy Jehovah, Jehovah 
 El, the strong God, as merciful and gracious, can 
 work, while I do for him therein, exceeding 
 abundantly more than he can ask or think." 
 
 This^ this, sir, was the language of God's heart 
 concerning you, before time began, which hath 
 opened, and opens, with glorious evidence in 
 your call to the work of the ministry, and in your 
 past and present usefulness. For you know 
 well, that the Lord God of your salvation 
 worketh all things in special, gracious Providence, 
 
200 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 according to the counsel of his own will. Dr. 
 Goodwin says, '• It is mercy enough to be a 
 minister ; God had but one Son, and he made 
 him a minister !" And not only a minister, sir, 
 for that you might have been, and have been a 
 sweet savour of Christ unto God in your ministe- 
 rial work, if your preaching the gospel of grace 
 had been only a savour of death unto death in 
 them that perish. But, O ! that you should be a 
 minister owned of God for the salvation of men ; 
 that your gospel ministry should prove the savour 
 of life unto life to so many ! Favourite of heaven ! 
 Indulged favourite ! Angels wonder at it ! Well 
 may we ! " We bless you out of Zion !" Con- 
 gratulate your happiness, and seek your increas- 
 ing bliss ! Truly you are heavy with glory ! 
 And what that exceeding, that more exceeding, 
 that far more exceeding weight of glory wall be 
 which is reserved for you to a boundless eterni- 
 ty : *' Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard !" 
 
 Blessed man ! Love and bless the Lord as you 
 can ; and tell him, that by and for his grace you 
 will give him glory, incessantly and perfectly, 
 through the circling ages of your blest eternity ! 
 And when all is done that can be done, that 
 ever will be done, God's free grace, his great 
 grace, towards you in Christ, will forever be ex- 
 alted, in its own immense display, far above all 
 your blessing and praise ! Yea, exalted for ever 
 will this free, great grace be, above all blessing 
 and praise which, on your account, shall be giv- 
 en unto God in Christ, by the innumerable hosts 
 
■ ' MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 201 
 
 of saved men and glorious angels, unto endless 
 ages ! Grace, in its immensity, none can know 
 fully, nor praise adequately ; that have not in 
 them a wisdom, a strength of infinity ! Put the 
 w^ork of praise, then, into your great Mediator'3 
 hands. He knows his Father's heart, and his 
 marvellous works, right well ! And will praise 
 him as the head of the church, for all his grace 
 displayed and conferred on all its members^. 
 Who, in their several places, and for their various 
 services, were made in secret, and curiously 
 wrought in the lowest parts of the earth ; while 
 the Father's eyes beheld Christ's substance, the 
 substance of his body mystical, and in his book, 
 all his members were written, for place and ser- 
 vice, which in continuance, were fashioned for 
 both, by grace to its eternal praise ! Countless, 
 to Christ as man, were the numerous thoughts, the 
 infinite thoughts, of his Father's grace unto him 
 and his ! But Christ, as God, knows them all full 
 well ; and being an infinite person, will render 
 infinite praise to a God of infinite grace ! 
 
 If you think not with me in this, sir, pardon 
 me. I hint it, as it just occurred to thought. 
 And will it not be an exceedingly great privilege 
 to us, who are so greatly indebted to free grace, 
 and so greatly insolvent, to give it an adequate 
 praise ; that our great Lord will pay the mighty debt 
 we owe, and give to a God of infinite grace the 
 glory due ? Yea, that, as the head of the 
 church, for all that infinite grace displayed to- 
 wards his body, he will, being an infinite person^ 
 
202 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 give it an infinite glory ! Here, in God's incar- 
 nate Son, in our Immanuel, God with us, the 
 Father's soul will find an infinite complacence, in 
 an infinite praise for all his infinite grace ! 
 However, insolvent as we are, let us offer a mite 
 of duty, in the name of Jesus, in love to the 
 glory of the God of grace ! until our feeble time- 
 praises rise to the strength of eternity's loudest 
 hallelujahs. When our great Lord and Head, 
 our glorious elder Brother, our everlasting Fa- 
 ther, will present all his and their perfect prai- 
 ses, and our services, to the highest acceptance 
 in his most acceptable person, and all-transcend- 
 ing praise unto his and our God and Father, with 
 " Behold / and the children which God hath giv- 
 en me !" In that view, what an august, majestic 
 work will the praise of heaven be ! " As the 
 voice of a great multitude, as the voice of many 
 waters, as the voice of mighty thunderings ! yea, 
 as the voice of the Lord God Omnipotent /" 
 
 I rejoice, sir, that you are so greatly strength- 
 ened by grace, for such abundant services, and 
 for harvest labours, unto harvest pleasures : may 
 " the power of Christ, still rest upon you, and 
 his strength be made perfect in your weakness !" 
 How great was the love of your three-one God, 
 in reserving for you, and conferring upon you, 
 such a new and great favour, together, as it were, 
 with your newly-restored life from threatened 
 death ! Life to you, with respect to the glory of 
 Christ by you, in eminent service to his praise, 
 was desirable to your heart in these views. And 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 203 
 
 not the single blessing of life only, but the doubU, 
 in a life of usefulness ; to God's glory, and your 
 joy, is conferred upon you, by infinite bounty, by 
 infinite love, and immensely great mercy !" 
 *' Your iniquities forgiven ; your life redeemed 
 from destruction ; crowned thus you are with 
 loving kindness and tender mercies !" For emi- 
 nent service, upon your resurrection from a sick- 
 bed, the Lord has designed you ; for this work, 
 by his grace upon your heart in drawing out 
 your desires after it, he eminently prepared you ; 
 and to satisfy your longing soul with eminent ser- 
 vice, he hath blessed you ! 
 
 " This is the Lord's doing : it is marvellous in 
 our eyes !" It is all of grace, free, rich, reigning 
 grace, through the redeemer's righteousness, from 
 first to last. But this we way observe, that where 
 God draws out the heart into eager desires after 
 eminent service (as he did yours, when you could 
 say, " you knew no delight but serving the Lord,") 
 that soul is designed of God to be an eminent 
 servant of his, and shall have its ardent desires 
 turned into ineffable delights ! For though our 
 Lord's love is every way a preventing love, and 
 ** we love him, because he first loved us ;" yet 
 where he draws out the principle of love in the 
 hearts of his servants into eminent exercise, it is 
 to be answered, it is to be rewarded, with glori- 
 ous displays of infinite kindness ! 
 
 " If any man love me (saithour Lord) he shall be 
 loved of my Father ; and I will love him, and will 
 manifest myself unto him." " If any man serve 
 
204 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 me (if he earnestly desires, and endeavours to 
 serve me) let him follow me : (let him serve me ;) 
 I make a gra7it of my service to him, he shall 
 serve me ; and let him therein take me for his 
 example ; let him follow me. And where I am 
 (in the displays of my glory) there shall my ser* 
 ant be ;" to his unspeakable joy. " If any man 
 serve me, him will my Father honour." 
 
 Well Dr. Goodwin observes, on Mary's stand- 
 ing, weeping at the sepulchre for her absent 
 Lord, when his disciples only came to it, looked 
 in, and went their way again, " that Christ mani- 
 fested himself to her, as he did not to a whole 
 college of apostles." That '^ faith carries it, 
 above all the graces, in point of justification ; 
 but love above all, in point of Christ's manifesta- 
 tion." And most sweetly he adds, " Christ knows 
 what it is to love ; and no soul shall die for the 
 love of him." 
 
 Of this, dear sir, you have had blessed expe- 
 rience. And what you have yet seen is nothing, 
 as it were, unto that which is still before you ; 
 or rather, it is like God's laying the foundation 
 of a vast, an endless superstructure ! For " raised 
 up from the depths of death unto the heights of 
 life, in and with Christ, mystically and influen- 
 tially ; it is, " that God, who is rich in mercy, 
 for the great love wherewith he loveth you, may 
 shew, in the ages to come (make a shew unto 
 endless ages of), the exceeding riches of his 
 grace, in his kindness towards you, through 
 Christ Jesus !" 
 
 *' O man, greatly beloved !" tell them, continue^ 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 205 
 
 to tell, the excellent loving-kindness of God our 
 Saviour towards unlovely sinners. " Preach unto 
 the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ !" 
 and for success in winning souls to Jesus ! May 
 you yet see " greater things than these !" Little, 
 O little can you think, how kindly the Prince of 
 Grace accepts your services ! How much he will 
 say, before men and angels, when he appears, in 
 commendation of those performances, which you 
 call poor doings ! which you are ashamed of, 
 before him, and bewail their weakness and im*- 
 perfection, with great lamentation ! Nor yet can 
 you think, what a rich crown of immortal glory 
 he will confer upon you, as a god-like reward of 
 all your mites of duty, according to his infinite 
 bounty ! " The Lord baptise you, with the Holy 
 Ghost and with fire !" and hereafter bless you 
 with the ineffable joy, the glorious honour, " of 
 presenting the happy souls, you have espoused 
 unto one Husband, and nourished up in faith, 
 unto eternal life, as a chaste virgin unto Christ !** 
 
 Indeed, sir, highly-favoured of God is our 
 honoured and beloved brother, Mr. Hervey, in 
 that he is made such a bright witness for Christ, 
 and the great truths of his glorious gospel in the 
 earth ! Excellent and precious is his last per- 
 formance. 
 
 You refresh my bowels in the Lord, while my 
 
 reverend brother tells me, "that my poor books 
 
 are of use to his dear people." May your joy be 
 
 full, that seek to advance mine ! And a full 
 
 18 
 
206 MEMOIRS OF DA.RRACOTT. 
 
 reward be given you of the Lord God of Israel, 
 who suffer a little child to cry " Hosanna to the 
 Son of David !" May all your prayers for me be 
 heard, and returned an hundred fold into your 
 own bosom ! I beg the continuance of your in- 
 terest at the throne of grace for the most unwor- 
 thy ; and as enabled, shall remember you most 
 heartily ! I commit you to the all-sufficient grace 
 of your own dear Lord Jesus ; to be carried 
 honourably and joyfully through all your ap- 
 pointed service, until you have finished your 
 course ; and then to be blest with a rich, immor- 
 tal crown of life and righteousness ; unto his 
 eternal glory, and your everlasting felicity ! And 
 with great affection, esteem, and gratitude for all 
 favours, permit me to be. 
 
 Reverend Sir, 
 Your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 Anne Button. 
 P. S. Pardon me, dear sir, that I could not get 
 time to write sooner. I embraced the very first 
 leisure. It gives me pleasure to hear that the 
 Countess of Huntingdon appears on the side of 
 Christ, and is eminent for God. May her life be 
 continued, and her usefulness great ! 
 
 FROM THE REV, MR. HAYWARD TO MR. DARRACOTT. 
 
 Bristol, April 22, 1757. 
 Reverend and dear Sir, 
 I received your kind and affectionate letter, 
 and rejoice to find that God is so remarkably 
 blessing your labours. How comfortable ! How 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 207 
 
 animating ! to see sinners melted, prodigals re- 
 luming, blasphemers fearing. Oh ! happy sight ! 
 Blessed be God, your eyes see it, and your soul 
 cannot but exult in the Lord. I need not say 
 how pleasant it is to study and preach, when 
 God thus sets to his seal. You are favoured 
 beyond many, my dear friend. God is owning 
 you, whilst many are crying out. Lord, who 
 hath believed our report ? May the Lord con- 
 tinue your zeal, continue your life, and continue 
 your success, and make you a burning and a 
 shining light. Your letter found me at Bristol, 
 where I have been now, these five weeks, and yet 
 but little alteration. 1 hope, upon the whole, 
 I am better, I have had a strong hectic, and a 
 bad cough. I shall have been laid aside from 
 my work, three quarters of a year : a long time 
 to be silent ! a long affliction, but little improve- 
 ment. Gladly would I again labour in my Lord's 
 vineyard, and be an instrument of good to souls. 
 The ministry never appeared to me in so amiable 
 alight. 
 
 Oh, my brother, how highly God is honouring 
 you, to continue your capacity for service, 
 and make you useful. I am ready to say, Oh, 
 that it was thus with me ! What God will do 
 with me, he only knows. I desire to be wait- 
 ing for his will. All that he has laid upon 
 me, I have deserved, and infinitely more. It 
 is rich mercy that I am out of hell. I doubt 
 not your remembrance of me at a throne of 
 grace. Pray recommend me to your people, ai 
 
208 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 a proper object of their prayers. I am a living 
 object of the power and excellency of prayer. 
 And God can as easily perfect the mercy as he 
 began it However, I would desire to say, 
 Father, thy will be done. Lady Huntingdon 
 was extremely kind. I find her to be a humble, 
 sweet Christian, and ready to support the cause 
 of Christ in any place. I hope you and your 
 family enjoy health. The Lord confirm and 
 continue it. I cannot enlarge. I am ordered 
 not to write, but I must a little. I shall be glad 
 to hear from you. My kind respects to yours, 
 Mrs. Darracott, Kitty, and all your family, 
 
 I am. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 Your most affectionate friend and brother, 
 Samuel Hayward. 
 
 FROM LADY HUNTINGDON TO MR. DARRACOTT. 
 
 Reverend and Dear Sir, 
 The affairs of my family called me home, but 
 I am again brought back in safety, and much 
 happiness of heart ; and that to a sweet little 
 family, who live but to devote every hour more 
 and more to the love and knowledge of the Lord 
 Jesus. We had agreed upon this retreat, and 
 taken a larger house among us for this purpose, 
 and we all wish your prayers. To become the 
 Lord's in body, soul and spirit, is the one cry 
 and desire of our hearts ; and we know he will 
 not reject us, nor cast us out ; and though we 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 209 
 
 can do nothing, yet we can receive of his fulness 
 grace for grace ; and in this world suffer reproach 
 and persecution for his name's sake, which is 
 sweet and honourable to us ; when, though we 
 can do nothing, we glory in this, that, to his 
 praise, he hath redeemed, and will make us 
 priests unto God. We should rejoice to see you 
 among us ; and I hope nothing will prevent it, if 
 convenient to you. All gospel ministers, it is 
 our highest honour and happiness to serve, and 
 no denomination do we ever reject. If their 
 bowels are straitened, ours are not. All glorjr 
 to his free spirit that is never bound. Such a 
 general stir 1 have never known. 
 
 FROM THE REV. DR. HAWEIS TO MR. DARRACOTT. 
 
 January 28, 1755. 
 Reverend and very dear sir, 
 Since it hath pleased the great God, and him 
 who hath the keys of death, and in whose hands 
 the issues of it are, to restore you again to our 
 importunate supplications, we shall, with delight, 
 consent to your request in aiding your praises, 
 and gratefully join with you in thanksgiving to 
 the God that heareth prayer. Next to my joy 
 for your returning health, 1 must add that of the 
 sweet experience of God's favour and accept- 
 ance which, in your distress, he was pleased to 
 manifest to you. I trust the bonds it leaves on 
 you, sir, will appear, and that, like the great 
 apostle Peter, many years after, you will have a 
 18* 
 
210 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 delightful remembrance of this manifestation of 
 the Lord to you : such things comfort the living 
 in expectation of them, and almost make us say, 
 " it is ffood for us to be here too." 
 
 Your reviving, cheering, and spurring exhor- 
 tation, accompanied with your prayers, shall 
 not, I trust, through the assistance of the Spirit 
 of God, fail to have its intended use, it is what, 
 amidst all the blessed means I enjoy, and kind- 
 ness of the Lord I experience, I abundantly 
 need. For, sir, I have a sad heart, loath to 
 leave the present glitter, to dig for hidden gold ; 
 and frequently leaning, with perverse attach- 
 ment, to earth and its transitory trifles, which, 
 with all the vanity 1 discover in them, too often 
 would impose on my affections, and, like objects 
 seen througli a wrong medium, appear what 
 they are not. 
 
 You describe a glorious hope, and my heart 
 cannot but bound on the expectation. Yes, sir, 
 I trust these eyes shall see the salvation of the 
 Lord, with all the imperfection and unprofitable- 
 ness I find in myself. I dare not, would not, for 
 a thousand worlds, cast away the hope of my 
 confidence, nor, having so often tasted that the 
 Lord is gracious, ungratefully distrust his kind- 
 ness, or suspect his love ; whilst, with fear and 
 trembling, I fain would work out my salvation, 
 casting myself entirely on him that worketh in 
 me to will and to do. I hope, I desire to wait 
 for the blessedness of the man that trusteth in 
 
MEBIOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 211 
 
 the Lord, and am persuaded that he hath not 
 forgotten to be gracious. 
 
 It just now strikes my mind, that it is very 
 probable I shall never see you, sir, this side 
 heaven ; and what think you my heart says ? 
 Why, suppose we do not, we shall spend eternity 
 together; and Mr. Darracott will own his 
 quondam friend, among the meanest of that 
 happy throng, though himself shines in a more 
 distinguished station. I lately visited my sisters, 
 and found them vastly pleased with the entertain- 
 ment you gave them. The good work manifestly 
 grows. But I have exhausted my stock of 
 time, when I have assured my dear Mr. Darracott 
 how affectionately and humbly I am his friend 
 and servant, 
 
 T. Haweis. 
 
 MISS MARY TREGENNA TO MR. DARRACOTT. 
 
 Reverend and worthy sir, 
 111 health has prevented me from complying 
 sooner with your request. The Almighty is now 
 pleased to grant me a relaxation from my pain ; 
 and for this, his great goodness to me, surely I 
 ought to dedicate those hours of ease entirely to 
 his service. The present, I think, I cannot better 
 improve, than in setting forth the praise of the 
 Lord, by telling you what great things he hath 
 done for my soul. Oh, that my whole life had 
 been spent in conformity to his will ! What 
 comfort would the reflection give me, if the love 
 
21SJ MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 of Jesus had had an earlier possession of my 
 heart ! But I rejected his kind invitations, and 
 cast his words behind me, that I might, without 
 any restraint, follow the dictates of my own per- 
 verse will, which led me into a life of sin and 
 vanity, that erased every impression the good 
 spirit made on my heart. 
 
 With sorrow and confusion, I confess to you, 
 that thus I lived, without God in the world, 
 until I arrived at twenty years of age. About 
 that time, I had a brother going to the university; 
 my papa went with him (to take care he was well 
 settled,) and as he had but indifferent health, took 
 me with him. This greatly pleased my corrupted 
 heart ; hoping that I should find abroad some new 
 enjoyment, that would give me more delight than 
 any I had hitherto met with could afford. But 
 how greatly was I mistaken ! Nothing but disap- 
 pointments attended me, every pleasure I partook 
 of left an uneasiness on my mind, and I returned 
 home more dissatisfied than ever. Then, I began 
 to reflect on the vanity of earthly enjoyments, and 
 plainly saw, that nothing here below was capable 
 of giving true satisfaction to the mind of a rea- 
 sonable being. 
 
 I continued in this thoughtful way, till the 
 week came on that is observed among us more 
 strictly, in order to take off the attention from 
 earthly things ; to prepare the heart to commemo- 
 rate the death of our Blessed Redeemer ; and, 
 as my parents were always careful for me to at- 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 213 
 
 tend on all the means of grace, I was never suffer- 
 ed to omit being at the sacrament. Blessed Je- 
 sus, how often have I approached thy holy table, 
 with an unsanctified heart ! My mamma often 
 watched me, to see if I neglected my private de- 
 votions, and many a reproof has she given me on 
 this occasion ; for whenever I thought I was not 
 observed by her, I wholly neglected my retire- 
 ments, and when I entered my closet, good Lord, 
 what did it avail me, to say over a few formal 
 words, with my thoughts, at the same time, taken 
 up with the vanities of the world ! 
 
 But now, I began to consider more seri- 
 ously my way of life, and how did every period 
 of it reproach me ! When I reflected how I 
 had, from day to day, been mocking my kind 
 Creator and Preserver, how great was my con- 
 fusion ! Surely, said I, I have been most wretch- 
 edly deceived in pursuing those transitory de- 
 lights, I have neglected my greatest interest, 
 and despised the Lord that bought m.e. My heart 
 was immediately impressed with great sorrow, 
 and I humbly fell down before the throne of 
 grace, to implore for pardon. I continued for 
 some time very much dejected, and spent all 
 my leisure time in reading and prayer ; my me- 
 lancholy countenance was visible to every one, 
 but none could guess what was the true cause of 
 it, for I had not boldness enough to speak of it, 
 and no one suspected it ; as I always kept up a 
 decency of behaviour, and past, in the eyes of 
 
214 MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 
 
 my acquaintance, for what the world calls a good 
 christian. 
 
 It was soon reported abroad, that love was the 
 occasion of my melancholy ; and stories were told 
 of me to my parents, that made them very unea- 
 sy. But at last, the Lord gave me courage to 
 confess the cause of my sorrows ; and my tongue 
 was loosed to give him the praise, and to ac- 
 knowledge myself a most miserable, sinful crea- 
 ture. I was soon beset, on all sides, with my 
 old companions in folly, who would persuade 
 me that there was no occasion for so much 
 strictness, and, that I should bring myself into 
 despair ; however, the Lord enabled me to with- 
 stand all their temptations, and their persecutions 
 were a spur to me, in the performance of my 
 duty : at length, they left me pretty quiet. 
 
 But, how dangerous is a life of much ease, t6 
 them who are endeavouring to take up the cross 
 after their blessed Master ! I soon found that it 
 was sometimes good to be afflicted ; for slothful- 
 ness took hold of me, and my zeal began to abate, 
 but it pleased the Lord to send me a heavy 
 affliction, by taking from me my eldest sister. 
 In about a year after, I lost my brother, and 
 another sister, and since that, my father. Surely, 
 if, after these great afflictions, I should still set 
 my affection on this world, and revolt from God, 
 great must be my condemnation. These troubles 
 have also been the means of inducing three more 
 of my sisters (that are grown up to years of matu- 
 rity) to engage more vigorously in the service of 
 
MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT. 215 
 
 their Redeemer. I have, also, four younger, that 
 I hope the Almighty will enable us to train up in 
 his fear and love. 
 
 One of them I cannot forbear speaking of, in a 
 particular manner. She is about twelve years 
 old, but few of twenty are so provident of their 
 time ; the hours allowed for her play, she 
 generally spends in reading or writing ; the latter, 
 she applied to of herself, unknown to us, and can 
 now write a very pretty hand, without being ever 
 taught. Her temper is quite even and cheerful ; 
 nothing delights her more than to hear of the 
 love of Jesus to us, and to be told of the joys of 
 heaven ; she will leave any company, or amuse- 
 ment, to hear a religious conversation : to see the 
 joy that sparkles in her countenance, on those 
 occasions, would delight you ; her readiness to 
 obey any commands laid upon her, is remarkable ; 
 and the meekness with which she bears ill-treat- 
 ment from any of her companions, has often made 
 me blush. I have found a secret as safe with her, 
 as in my own breast. 
 
 Oh, sir, what great mercies has the Lord con- 
 ferred on me and mine ! How can I choose but 
 say, « Lord who am I, that thou art thus mindful 
 of me, or any of my father's ! Oh, that I could 
 praise the Lord as I ought, for this his great 
 goodness to us ! Oh, that I might be telling of his 
 salvation from day to day." My sister enjoys the 
 thoughts of seeing you and good Mrs. Darracott. 
 She joins in thanks to you, for your kind, in- 
 
216 MEMOIRS or DARRACOTT. 
 
 structing letter, and also, in sincerest compli- 
 ments, to you and your good lady, with, 
 Worthy sir, 
 Your obliged, humble servant, 
 
 And most sincere friend, 
 
 Mary Tregenna. 
 Bath, Dec. 17, 1754. 
 
 END. 
 
DATE DUE 
 
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 rniNTCOINU.S A.