CHARITY.
The following memorandum is made in his pocket-book for 1832:—
“After I leave England, I purpose giving one-seventh to poor-purse, as my object in devoting one fifth was that I might more extensively employ the poor about my premises, &c. &c. But as there is no want of labour there, so large a proportion will not be needed: at least, it so strikes me at present. Possibly, however, more will be needed for the cause of God.”
One way in which employment was given to the poor at Hutton was, making a side walk through the village, covered with white spar, which was procured from the neighbouring hills, and was broken very small. His rector, the Rev. Alfred Harford, shared in many of the plans which were adopted for the benefit of the poor in Hutton.
Mr. Mortimer made a point of never being his own instrument in affording pecuniary assistance to any of the persons he visited. If he noticed that any persons were in distressed circumstances, or if any told him of their difficulties, he would mention them to Mrs. Mortimer, and she would do what was necessary to relieve them. Indeed, she was in every case his almoner; for he never himself gave any money in charity. His reason for this was, that the people might have no selfish aim in desiring his visits, which he wished to be purely spiritual.
As a HUSBAND and a FATHER, Mr. Mortimer was a pattern of conjugal tenderness and of parental kindness: there was a remarkable suavity in his manners, which greatly endeared him to his family, and indeed to all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance. If ever he said or wrote an unkind word, he was the first to discover and acknowledge it, and to make the most ample apology. His humility was so great that it might have been suspected of disingenuousness, if those who knew him the most intimately were not well assured of his Christian simplicity and sincerity. His youngest daughter, writing to me, says, in reference to this subject:—
“He kindly made me the companion of his drives before he began to visit his people regularly, and he frequently talked to me more as if I were his friend than his daughter; for he would speak of his religious feelings, and even of his faults. He once said that he had no wish to conceal his sins and failings here; for that they would all be revealed before the assembled multitudes of men and angels at the day of judgment. I frequently felt deeply humbled by the thought that I was so unworthy of the feelings my beloved father entertained towards me: but I was fully aware that it was his own disposition to cause him to feel as he did towards me.”
My amiable young friend and god-daughter also writes, in reference to his kindness to servants:—
“My dear father was the kindest and most considerate of MASTERS. He was always anxious to promote the comfort and happiness of his servants, and very careful not to wound their feelings, or to give them unnecessary trouble or annoyance. He often expressed his pleasure at seeing them seated by the fire at their needlework, or enjoying the society of their relatives and friends, and would tell them that he wished them to be as comfortable as he was himself. Nor was he less mindful of their spiritual welfare, and took pains to instruct them in the great duties of religion.”
For the foregoing particulars, illustrative of my friend’s character as a Christian pastor, and in his domestic relations, with the exception of a part of the article on the character of his preaching, attributed in a note, to another friend, I am entirely indebted to his youngest daughter, Miss Phebe Mortimer: nothing is due to myself except for the arrangement of the materials with which I have been so kindly and so well furnished.
From the foregoing sketch, as well as from the general contents of the volume, Mr. Mortimer’s character is clearly seen, and cannot fail to excite admiration:—let every reader here add a prayer to be enabled to imitate as well as to admire. That my friend was possessed of no peculiarities, or of no defects, I do not affirm; but they were blended with so much purity of motive, integrity of principle, and correctness of conduct, that his general excellences were visible to all, his peculiarities were known but to few. His extreme carefulness in expenditure, and his—seemingly, at least—over anxiousness to preserve unimpaired, if not to increase, his fortune, led him to the adoption of some measures, which by many of his friends were thought questionable. It is, however, exceedingly difficult to judge another in this matter, or, indeed, to set up any precise and universal standard by which to form a judgment in the case. So many among the clergy, it is to be feared, err in the opposite extreme, and so much reproach has been brought upon the Church and the clerical character, by the want of a sufficient prudence and economy in secular affairs, to prevent pecuniary embarrassment, that the error of too much care is much to be preferred to that of a want of it, where it is attended by such counteracting properties as marked Mr. Mortimer’s management of his income. His systematic charity, his cheerful and bountiful liberality, and his strict integrity, more than balance any defective peculiarity in his secular matters.
If I might venture to sum up Mr. Mortimer’s character in a few words, I should say that his whole life, from the time of his becoming a decided Christian, was characterized by firm faith, deep humility, great decision, steady consistency, self-denial, holy zeal, and patient perseverance; and his manners were characterized by urbanity, kindness, and sweetness of address peculiar to himself. As a pastor, as a private Christian, as a relative, and as a friend, he has left an example worthy of imitation. “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord: even so saith the Spirit; for they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them.”
Mr. Mortimer, just before his death, gave directions to destroy all his papers and writings, and it does not appear that he kept any record of the events of his life, or of his Christian experience: no specimen, therefore, of his regular composition has come into the hands of the writer. The following fragments or remains have been collected from different sources, and show his opinions on the several subjects of them.
ARMINIANISM.
Your very Christian remarks and feelings connected with my much honoured and much beloved Wellington friend deserve my sincere thanks. You are quite right: the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace is of infinitely more importance than nice and subtle distinctions upon points of which, after all, we know so exceedingly little. I do not think those two sermons should have been attached to the volumes, whose other contents are generally practical: and I objected at the time, but the opinions of others prevailed. I think with you that the text is unhappily chosen. As to the contents, we shall of course differ: but I can say so much as this, that I attach so little importance to the peculiarities of the system which I adopt, that, for many months past, I have declined in toto entering upon the subject with every one who would dispute with me: and am so moderate in my own statements, that most of my Arminian friends have their fears of my eventually leaving them:—not that any alteration has taken place in my doctrinal views, but simply in the ideas of importance which I used at one time to attach to them.