תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

the messages of salvation to perishing sinners, which could never be extinguished. This desire was no doubt greatly increased in its intensity, by those circumstances and considerations to which we have already adverted. So intense it certainly was, that he sought its gratification, in opposition to discouragements and disappointments neither few nor of short duration; till at length, after he had passed the meridian of life, he was authorized to use his gifts, in exactly that form which was most desirable to himself.

The foregoing remarks seemed to the writer to be naturally suggested, on a careful examination of Mr. Eastburn's narrative; and to be worthy of attention on their own account: at the same time, they will enable the reader more clearly to understand a number of occurrences, which will be noticed in the sequel of these

memoirs.

After Mr. E. returned to his business, as a cabinetmaker, nothing worthy of record seems to have occurred; except that he labored with his usual activity and diligence, and attended meetings for prayer and religious conference, as often as opportunities offered, for about the space of two years. He then entered into the marriage relation. Among his papers the following certificate was found

"This may certify, to all persons whom it may concern, that Joseph Eastburn and Ann Owen, both of the city of Philadelphia, were lawfully married on the 12th day of June, Anno Domini, 1771.

Per me, JAMES SPROUTT,
Minister of the Gospel."

The woman whom Mr. E. selected for a wife, was as much noted for industry as himself. Hers was exercised in a branch of the tailor's business, which she had learned, and in which she had become expert. She possessed higher intellectual powers, and was more improved by reading than her husband. But her best distinction was her eminent piety. She had, with this, much good sense and discretion, in connexion with an amiable temper and an engaging demeanor. Hence her company and con

course.

versation were truly attractive; and the singular neatness and order of her dwelling were the admiration of all her visitants. Religion was her favorite topic of disBut she never introduced it unseasonably, ostentatiously, or offensively. She suffered conversation to take its natural course, and joined in it with cheerfulness, and sometimes with pleasantry, till a fit opportunity presented to give it a serious cast, or to drop some pious remark which she hoped might be useful. During the latter part of her life, she was a habitual invalid, and found it necessary to confine herself to her apartment through the whole inclement season of the year. Yet she was habitually cheerful, bearing her infirmities with little complaint and with exemplary fortitude. Her maladies were connected with a pulmonary affection, which at length carried her to the grave. But, for her, the grave had no terrors. She approached it not only without fear, but with serenity and a desire to depart. Her patience, tenderness of conscience, Christian resignation, and unwavering hope of heaven, through a long confinement, were of the most edifying kind. She was doubtful of the propriety of taking laudanum to mitigate her cough and restlessness; nor would she consent to its use, till she had very seriously consulted the present writer on the lawfulness of such a remedy.-This tribute to her memory it had been unjust to withhold. The period of her dissolution will be noticed in its proper place.

After what has been said, it is scarcely necessary to add, that Mr. and Mrs. Eastburn were happy in their union. For a number of years subsequent to their marriage, they had no house of their own, nor the undivided occupancy of one upon rent. They lived in a single room furnished by themselves, in a family that owned or had rented the dwelling in which they resided. This was their manner of life, during their residence in the city, till after the war of the American revolution; and from the labour of their hands, in their several occupations, they derived the means of a very comfortable support.

Mr. Eastburn performed two or three tours of military duty, in the revolutionary war; he was in the field at

C

the memorable battle of Princeton, Jan. 3d, 1777, on which the success of our struggle for independence seemed to be suspended. He however accounted it a merciful providence, in his after life, although never in principle opposed to defensive warfare, that he had, in no instance, been instrumental in taking away human life. On one occasion the corps in which he bore arms was commanded to fire on the enemy, but was instantly countermanded, and did not fire-nor on any other occasion was he called to discharge his musket on an opposing foe. On the approach of the British army to Philadelphia, in September, 1777, many of the citizens, who had been ardently attached to the American cause, fled into the adjacent country. That Mr. and Mrs. Eastburn were among the fugitives there is no reason to doubt; but the place of their residence, during their exile, if ever known to the writer, is not now in his recollection. Before the close of the summer of 1778, the British troops had evacuated the city, the citizens who had fled returned to their homes, and Mr. Eastburn and his wife resumed their occupations. The subsequent period, however, till the peace of 1783, was one of great public agitation; religion was in a languishing state throughout the land, and vice and immorality, the usual attendants of war, lamentably prevailed. So far as opportunity offered, Mr. Eastburn continued his former practice of attending meetings for prayer and Christian conference, and was usually a leader in them.

In something more than a year after marriage, as nearly as can now be ascertained, a son was born to the pious pair, whose story we are tracing. This child bore the name of Thomas; and there can be no doubt that many prayers were offered in his behalf, and much religious instruction imparted to him. But, contrary to the wishes of his parents, he insisted, at an early age, on going to sea. After fruitless endeavors to dissuade him from his purpose, he was committed to the care of Captain Benjamin Wickes, then an intimate and endeared friend of his father, and the commander of a merchant vessel which sailed from the port of Philadelphia. The statement of this venerable man, now an

elder of the church in his 82d year, as given to the writer a few days since, represents the conduct of young Eastburn, while under his superintendence, as orderly and correct. That he was not so, when he came to act for himself, it is grievous to mention. He, however, became first a mate, and then the commander, of a merchant vessel. By the failure of a mercantile house, into whose employ he had entered, he lost the little property he had acquired and shortly after, on his return from the West Indies, in a vessel in which he was only a passenger, he was instantly killed by a cannon-ball, at the age of twenty-four or twenty-five years. This was at the time when the excesses of the French revolution were at their height; and the shot which killed Thomas Eastburn, seems to have been fired with a view to detain, or to capture, the vessel in which he was a passenger, with a view to plunder. The news of the death of their son soon reached his anxious parents. This correction of their heavenly Father they bore with a submission and resignation truly Christian; but it was manifestly painful for them to speak on the subject to any of their friends. Hence the memorialist, after his pastoral visit to the mourning family, never introduced the topic in his conversation with the parents; and hence, although he is satisfied that all the material facts of the case are here correctly stated, he is not quite sure that some unimportant circumstances might be different from the representation now given of them. It may serve to show how opposite are the sources from which consolation under affliction is sought by different descriptions of people, to relate an incident which took place on this sad occasion. Some of the sailors belonging to the ship in which Thomas Eastburn was killed, called on his mother, to narrate the particulars of the disastrous event. On perceiving how much she was grieved, one of them said "Madam, he died without a bit of pain; the cannon-ball carried off his head all at once." Between the views of this sailor and Mrs. Eastburn, what a difference!—he thinking only of an easy death; she absorbed with the thoughts of that eternity into which her son was so suddenly hurried. This excellent woman, in a kind of reserved manner,

intimated to her pastor, in the single conversation he had with her on the death of her only son, that she had been unusually engaged, and, as she thought, assisted, in prayer on his behalf, for some time before his death; and this was the source, and the only one, from which she appeared to derive a ray of consolation. It is not improbable that the deep interest which, in the latter part of his life, Mr. Eastburn took in the spiritual concerns of seamen, was increased by the remembrance of his son.

We now return to narrate the events of most importance in the life of the subject of these memoirs, during the period which elapsed from his return from exile, till the termination of the awful pestilence of 1793. It has already been mentioned, that during the first part of this period, he continued his practice of attending meetings for prayer. But it appears that beside this, he sought a regular introduction to the gospel ministry. It is in the recollection of the memorialist, that before he left his father's house for college, which was in May, 1782, a letter in relation to the introduction of a man into the gospel ministry, without a liberal education, was addressed to that father. It cannot be stated as a matter of distinct remembrance, that this letter related to Mr. Eastburn; and yet no doubt is entertained that it did. The man concerned, it was understood, resided in Philadelphia. The letter was written by a delegate from the State of New-Jersey to the old Continental Congress, on which that delegate was then attending. The party to whom the letter was addressed was a leading member of the Presbytery of Morris county, all the members of which had, a short time previously, separated themselves from the Presbytery of New-York, and formed the Presbytery of Morris county-chiefly with a view to license men to preach the gospel, without requiring, as indispensable, a course of liberal study. But the manner in which the business to which this letter related was disposed of, in the Morris county Presbytery, is unknown to the memorialist; except that Mr. Eastburn was never under the care of that Presbytery. It is considered as probable, that the finances of Mr. E. did not permit him to spend

« הקודםהמשך »