NEW-YORK ALMS-HOHSE. 111 This, to Mr. Stanford, proved to be a year of unusual activity and interest. The Bethel church in Broomestreet, which had for several years been in a declining condition, invited him to preach for them as frequently as his other engagements would permit; and it is believed that his labours in this congregation were not in vain in the Lord. March 2d, he was invited to preach in the AlmsHouse, where, for the first time, he was called to address an assembly composed of the sick, the lame, the blind, and miserable, of both sexes and of all ages. His text on this occasion was Phillipians iv. 11—“ I have learned in whatsoever state 1 am, therewith to be content." Interesting as this scene must have been, yet, could he have removed the vale which conceals the events of futurity, and anticipated the extensive and protracted services which God had appointed for him among these poor and afflicted creatures, he would probably have shrunk from the task. But it is a part of the merciful arrangements of Divine Providence, that " The morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." "God gives to every good man The virtue, temper, understanding, taste, Just in the very niche he was ordain'd to fill." Several years intervened before Mr. Stanford was called to be the stated preacher of the gospel in the New-York Alms-House, although he did not fail occasionally to visit, and proclaim the message of mercy to the poor. From the year 1807, until 1811, we are not informed that public worship was regularly maintained in this institution; but in the early part of that year, a licentiate of one of the Baptist churches in this city, received an invitation from Alderman Furman, to preach on Wednesday, Friday, and Sabbath 112 HIS FIELD OF LABOUR. evenings. A morning service was shortly afterwards commenced. These services were gratuitously continued for nearly two years. During this season, the Rev. E. S. Ely commenced his labours in the same place; and in the month of January, 1813, the Rev. John Stanford, and the Rev. E. S. Ely, were employed by the society established for preaching the Gospel to the poor in the City-Hospital and AlmsHouse. The Rev. Mr. Ely continued his services until June 1813, when Mr. Stanford received the exclusive appointment as chaplain of these institutions. His labours were subsequently extended to the StatePrison, Bridewell, Magdalen-House, Orphan-Asylum, Debtor's Prison, Penitentiary, Lunatic-Asylum, Blackwell's Island, Marine-Hospital, and City-Hospital, where he continued nearly twenty years to labour with ardent and devoted attention. It is gratifying to be able to say, that his ministry was blessed to the conversion of many souls; nor were these instances confined to the sick and the dying; but many, in all the vigour of manhood, and pursuing a course of the most blasphemous daring; have been brought in tears to the feet of Christ, and have, after their emancipation from bondage, recorded it to the honour of divine grace, that they were set free from the power of darkness; even while bound in chains, they listened to the gospel which he preached to them within the gloomy walls of a prison. Yes, the hardened culprit has been seen to shed the penitential tear, and the strong men. have been constrained to bow the knee to Jesus, while, with trembling, they have cried out, "What shall we do to be saved?" The young and the old, the sick, and those in health, have been blessed through his instrumentality. And while the living have thus become better prepared to serve God, and to enjoy his mercies, the dying have caught the encouraging words of the gospel as they fell from his lips, and mingled their praises with the redeemed before the OBSTACLES DID NOT IMPEDE HIM. 113 throne, as a testimony of their faith in the blood of the Lamb. It is no less true of John Stanford, than of John Howard, that as the friend and the pastor of the wretched prisoner, the orphan, and the miserable of every class," he trod an open but unfrequented path to immortality," in the ardent and unremitted exercise of Christian charity; and it is devoutly to be wished, that this tribute to his memory may excite others to emulate his truly benevolent conduct. He officiated not in the splendid temples, where the charms of music, and the cushioned accommodation, invite a gay and happy multitude; no, his duties led him to the dark cell of the criminal-his feet trod the floors where loathsome disease, and squalid poverty, and death prevailed; and where, but for his untiring fidelity, it is believed that many hundreds would have perished without the knowledge of Christ. No severity of climate, no previous fatigues, no bodily pain, could prevent him, if it was possible, from responding to the calls of the distressed. We have seen him, under all the infirmities of seventy-eight years, and while enduring great bodily pain; in the most oppressive days of July and August, slowly directing his course to the Hospital, the Alms-House, or the CityJail, there to administer to the spiritual wants of those whose temporal woes he could not alleviate. He seemed to have adopted as a motto the well-known maxim-" Haud ignara mali, miseris succurrere disco." The writer has frequently accompanied the venerable man on errands of mercy to the poor, and from his mind, those interesting scenes will never be effaced. O with what eager attention did the children of sorrow listen to his voice, while with tears of gratitude they have been seen crowding around him at the close of the service, and, like a family of affectionate children, entreating him soon to return! Yes, we 114 GRATITUDE OF HIS HEARERS. have gone with him to the hospital, and witnessed the effects of the words of peace which he uttered in the audience of those who, but for him, would probably never have heard the message of salvation. We have been with him in the lonely cell of the condemned malefactor, and seen the man of crime and of blood relent under his preaching, and thank the God of mercy who sent him thither.* The amount of service performed by Mr. Stanford, as chaplain of the above named Institutions, is believed to be without a parallel in modern times. This fact would appear quite evident, if the reader could peruse the many folio volumes which he has filled with the diurnal account of his labours. The nature of this work will only allow us to intersperse a few brief * While writing the memoir of a Baptist minister, it is gratifying to quote the opinion of the British Cicero, respecting a layman of the same denomination, and whose life was devoted to the same cause-we mean the immortal John Howard. This wonderful man was born in the year 1726, at Enfield, in England. He was a member of the Baptist congregation in Little Wild-street, London, then under the care of the Rev. Samuel Stennet, D. D. To mitigate the sufferings of the distressed in every clime, he travelled through England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, and Turkey. He died of a pestilential fever, at Churson, on the 20th of January, 1790, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. "I cannot," says Edmund Burke, "name this gentleman (Howard) without remarking, that his labours and writings have done much to open the eyes and hearts of mankind. He has visited all Europe-not to survey the sumptuousness of palaces, or the stateliness of temples; not to make accurate measurements of the remains of ancient grandeur, nor to form a scale of the curiosity of modern art; not to collect medals, or collate manuscripts; but to dive into the depths of dungeons; to plunge into the infection of hospitals; to survey the mansions of sorrow and pain; to take the guage and dimensions of misery, depression, and contempt; to remember the forgotten, to attend to the neglected, to visit the forsaken, and to compare and collate the distresses of all men in all countries. His plan is original, and it is as full of genius as it is of humanity voyage of discovery, a circumnavigation of charity. Already the benefit of his labour is felt more or less in every country, and I hope he will anticipate his final reward by seeing all its effects fully realized in his own. He will receive, not by retail, but in gross, the reward of those who visit the prisoner, and he has so forestalled and monopolized this branch of charity, that there will be, I trust, little room to merit by such acts of benevolence hereafter."-Speech at Bristol, previous to the clection in 1780. It was a extracts, by which the public may form some estimate of the loss which they have sustained in his death. The following is a summary of a single week's work, of this eminent and faithful minister of Jesus Christ, and which is inserted in this place without reference to dates. "Tuesday-A discourse, &c. in the Lunatic-Asylum; two others in the upper ward of the City-Hospital; after which all the wards are visited. "Wednesday-Visit the Orphan-Asylum, examine some of the children, and give them a discourse, &c.; go to the State-Prison, preach twice, visit the sick, and afterwards hear the young prisoners recite their catechism. "Thursday-Debtor's-Prison and Bridewell-a discourse in each; but in the former place I frequently meet with interruption. "Friday-Bellevue; visit the two Hospitals in the morning, and usually give a sermon in each; attend as many wards as possible in the front building: afternoon, preach in the Penitentiary, and examine the school; directly after, give a discourse to the maniacs; finish by examining the two Poor-house schools. "Lord's day—At half-past eight, public service and a sermon in the City-Hospital. "After this I go to Bellevue, preach in the chapel in the morning; directly after, preach to the state prisoners in the Penitentiary: afternoon, preach again in the chapel, and twice in the month examine the children in their catechism, in presence of the congregation; which has a good effect. "When at the State-Prison, preach twice, and visit the prison hospital. "All these places are visited oftener when required by the sick. This is the usual course of the week. "Average of weekly discourses.-State-Prison three; Alms-House five; City-Hospital three; Orphan-Asy |