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CHAPTER IV.

Unhappy consequences of Mr. Eastburn's acting as a catechist and exhorter without a regular designation; the manner in which the evil was arrested; Mr. E.'s examination and qualified licensure by the Presbytery of Philadelphia.

In an early part of the summer of 1799, a collegiate pastor of the church to which Mr. Eastburn belonged, was ordained; and public worship was, in consequence, regularly celebrated, twice on the sabbath-at Campington, as well as in the associated church in the city. The urgency, therefore, which had led to Mr. E.'s employment as a catechist and an exhorter, was now terminated. But his labors had been so acceptable, and so evidently blessed, that he thought he ought not to discontinue them; and for the same reason, his pastors were reluctant to attempt to lay him under any restriction. He therefore continued, for nearly six years, to exhort on the evenings of the Lord's day and at some other times, both in the Northern Liberties of the city and in several other places. Toward the latter part of this period, the ill effects of Mr. E.'s appearing as a public teacher, without any regular call or appointment to such an office, became painfully manifest. Several individuals, utterly unqualified to teach and admonish others, became exhorters and leaders in religious meetings; and considered themselves entitled to assume these characters, in consequence of being able to plead the example of Mr. E. The evil was increasing, and the embarrassment it occasioned to the pastors of the church to which these unauthorized teachers chiefly belonged, was not small. To endeavor to arrest the evil by an explicit prohibition, would, it was thought, hazard the peace of the congregation; and to suffer it to proceed, seemed inconsistent with a faithful discharge of duty. In these circumstances the irregularity was corrected, in a manner which the writer of these memoirs has always considered as peculiarly providential, and as laying him under special obligation

to divine grace and goodness. The facts were as follows-The writer had been so occupied in the course of a certain week, that Saturday had arrived, without his having even selected a text for a discourse on the following day. On opening the New Testament with a view to such a selection, one of the first passages that met his eye, was Gal. vi. 3—“For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." The determination was immediately formed to discourse on these words, and to show how, in religious concerns, this text is verified, in a variety of instances. Five such instances occurred, and were rapidly minuted down, before the connexion of the text was carefully examined, or a commentator consulted. On looking into Doddridge, it appeared that, in his opinion, the words were specially intended as "a caution against vain-glory and an overweening opinion of ourselves;" and in a note he states it to be the opinion of Mr. Locke, that the following verse has a particular reference to false teachers. This immediately suggested that a sixth particular might consist, in an application of the text to those who take on themselves the office of public teachers of religion, without either qualifications for, or call to such an office. But it was speedily resolved to omit this, lest, in the particular circumstances of the congregation, the contemplated application might appear to be too pointed, and thus be productive of disturbance. To this resolution, however, the pastor, on a little reflection, found he could not adhere. The words-"not handling the word of God deceitfully," flashed on his mind, with a force which almost made him tremble. He saw that if the text he had chosen rendered the particular in question peculiarly applicable to his charge, this was so far from furnishing a reason for the omission of that particular, that it formed an imperious demand that it should be retained, and be distinctly and prominently presented. It was accordingly retained, and made the last of the series. The effect was salutary beyond all expectation. The impression produced by this discourse was powerful, and yet, so far as was ever known to the pastor, not offensive. The unqualified exhorters never again, it is

believed, attempted to speak in public. But on the Wednesday morning following, Mr. Eastburn came to his pastor, and in a long conversation opened his mind freely. He said that the sermon he had heard on the sabbath, had deprived him of sleep, and had led him to close selfexamination. He appeared to be particularly distressed with the apprehension, that he had been "thinking himself to be something, while he was nothing." Such, he was told in reply, was not the estimate made of him by the preacher, either when the sermon was delivered, or at any other time; but on the contrary, that he was believed to be qualified to do good, and that he had done good, by taking the lead in social exercises of religion; still that it should be our care to do good in such a way as not to do harm at the same time; and that he could not but be sensible that his example had furnished a plausible pretext, for some who were wholly unfit to discourse publicly to others on the great doctrines of the word of God, to assume the awful responsibility of doing it. The result was, that he threw himself entirely on his pastor to direct him how to act; and was promised that his case should receive the most serious and deliberate consideration. This conversation, which lasted from early in the morning till one o'clock, took place, as appears from the writer's diary, on the 12th of December, 1804, and the writer has often looked back to the circumstances which led to it, and the consequences which followed it, as furnishing for him a subject for humble gratitude to God-gratitude that he was, without plan or design on his part, in a sort compelled to do that which not only arrested the progress of evil, but opened the way for the eminent and extensive usefulness of the holy man whose memoirs he is now writing.

It was so ordered in providence, that about four years before the occurrence just stated, a plan had been devised for providing a chaplain, of the Presbyterian denomination, for the jail, hospital, and bettering-house of the city of Philadelphia. This plan, with some considerations urging its adoption, had been printed in a pamphlet form, and distributed among those who, it was supposed, were likely to favor it and render it effective. But no

suitable candidate for the deficiency could be named, and hence the whole plan met with opposition from some, and with indifference from many; and the present writer, by whom it had been drawn up, had already considered his attempt as finally abortive, when he found himself pledged to consider the case of Mr. Eastburn, and advise him as to the course he ought to pursue. It did not require much meditation to think of him as a fit person, and in some respects the fittest that could be found, to act as a chaplain to the public and charitable institutions which have been mentioned. The management of those institutions was much in the hands and under the influence of the Friends or Quakers; and with them the very circumstance that Mr. E. was not a regular clergyman of the Presbyterian church, would render his stated access to these establishments more easy and acceptable, than if he had been clothed with the regular clerical character. With others, also, who had been hostile or indifferent to the plan first proposed, Mr. E. was highly popular; and that he was admirably qualified to perform the duties of a chaplain to those who were in a state of suffering, whether through misfortune or crime, was admitted by all. After, therefore, consulting with a number of his friends, and finding that Mr. E. was cordially willing to accept of the appointment contemplated, the writer determined to endeavor to obtain in his behalf, from the Presbytery of Philadelphia, a designation to the duties of a chaplaincy; with a license also, to exhort and pray with Christian assemblies generally, as opportunity might offer. Accordingly, the memorial recited in the minute of the Presbytery, which will presently appear, was drawn up, and subscribed by a number of influential individuals. During the interval between Dec. 12th, 1804, and May, 1805, the impression of the writer is (but without a distinct recollection) that Mr. E. did not often, if ever, address promiscuous assemblies; but confined himself chiefly to taking a leading part in meetings for prayer and religious conference, to the visitation of the sick, and to conversations with individuals whose minds were seriously exercised in regard to their spiritual state.

The following extract from the minutes of the Presby

tery of Philadelphia, will sufficiently explain the whole process by which Mr. E. was regularly authorized to perform the duties of a religious teacher, the conditions and limitations under which the authority was granted, and the examination to which he was subjected when the grant was made. The Presbytery was remarkably harmonious in all the discussions which took place at the time, and entirely unanimous in the result. A venerable member, now deceased, remarked to the writer, after the adjournment, that he thought a divine influence had most sensibly pervaded the judicature of the church on this interesting

occasion.

"At a meeting of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, May the 14th, 1805—

"Present Drs. Green and Blair; Messrs. Irwin, Davenport, Russel, Milledoler, Latta, Boyd, Potts, and Janeway, ministers.

"A memorial signed by a number of members of several Presbyterian congregations in Philadelphia, was brought in, read, and is as follows

“To the Reverend Presbytery of Philadelphia.

"We the undernamed inhabitants of Philadelphia and the liberties thereof, beg leave to lay before Presbytery the following memorial, viz.

"We represent that the circumstances of those who are confined in the Bettering-House, Gaol, and Hospital of the City of Philadelphia, in being deprived of the instructions and consolations of religion, are calculated deeply to affect the minds of those who suitably estimate the value of evangelical truth, and know the worth of immortal souls. Influenced by the consideration of these circumstances, a number of the ministers and other members of the Presbyterian churches in Philadelphia, did, about four years since, devise and endeavor to execute, a plan for committing to a regular Presbyterian minister, the charge of the unhappy people in the public establishments mentioned. This plan is herewith submitted to the Presbytery, that our views and designs, and the reason which in our opinion justify them, may the more distinctly

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