When I consider how deeply his mind was often affected by a sense of the responsibility connected with his official situation; when I reflect upon the many important discussions, both private and official, in which the concerns of the Society necessarily engaged him: when I look at his numerous journies, on its behalf, into all parts of the kingdom; at the multitude of crowded meetings in which he poured forth the treasures of his powerful mind; and at the extensive correspondence which he maintained with the agents and friends of the Institution in every quarter of the world; not to mention the valuable publications, which, during that interval, he found leisure to compose, and his weekly ministrations in this sacred place; it is to me matter of surprise, not that he finally sunk under his exertions, but that, for a period of eighteen years, he could bear up under those incessant and overwhelming occupations.
In stating that he consecrated his talents to the glory of God, and the benefit of his fellow-creatures, I tacitly assume that he was influenced by christian motives. It is, indeed, difficult to conceive by what other motives he could possibly be influenced. By becoming a gratuitous Secretary to the British and Foreign Bible Society, all worldly views he seems deliberately to have renounced. Had he thought it right to employ his great abilities with a view to secular interests, there can be little doubt that he would have been eminently successful: but he had a higher and a nobler aim; and the motives by which he was guided were, as I am well persuaded,—and I know that I speak the sentiments of those who were most intimately conversant with him,—among the best and purest that can enter into a human bosom. The principle which carried him on in his laborious career, through evil report and good report, till his frame was worn out and exhausted, was the divine principle of love to God and love to man. This principle, and this alone, could have sustained him under his manifold difficulties, and have kept him stedfast and immoveable in the work. And did he ever express any concern that he embarked in this cause? Was it a source of regret to him, that he had left out of sight his worldly interests, and on account of his devotedness to the Society had exposed himself to discomforts and disquietudes, which assailed him even to the last? Every person who was acquainted with him will bear witness to the contrary; and a short record of his own, subjoined to some notes concerning the progress of the Institution, and written apparently within the last few months, will, by most persons, be deemed conclusive as to the same fact. The sentence runs thus:—
“How sweet to have toiled in this work! And, if wasted with labours more abundant, he is compelled to withdraw —. I have done.”
The last words occurring at a short distance from the other: as if, after a pause for reflection, he had felt himself convinced that his strength was already worn out, and that in this great cause he should labour no more.
The situation which he so long held in the Society required a man of a large and liberal mind; and such he was in the best sense of the word. His was not that spurious liberality which looks upon all creeds with equal indifference, and regards all as equally unimportant; his own views were clear and decided: he was in heart, as well as by profession, cordially attached to the doctrines and discipline of that Church, of which he had the honour to be a Minister. But upon matters of inferior moment he loved not to dwell: his delight was, without compromising any of his principles, to contemplate the points upon which Christians can agree, rather than to provoke debate on those in which they may differ: and instead of indulging a spirit of harshness, even towards those whose sentiments he totally disapproved, his conduct was uniformly that of candour, and kindness, and benignity.
I have hinted at certain painful circumstances, which, in addition to the weight of his ordinary labours, very frequently came upon him from some hostile quarters. This is not the place in which I could persuade myself to enlarge upon such a subject; and were not the fact too notorious to be entirely overlooked, I should have passed it over in silence. It is consoling, however, to observe, that the hostility which your valued Minister was called to sustain, arose entirely from his attachment to the important work in which he was so assiduously engaged, and from the diligence and success with which he pursued it: and if he had a personal enemy, that enemy had most assuredly a friend in him: in his mind no feeling of harshness could ever remain.
“I have witnessed with no little pleasure,” observes a common friend, “his conduct and demeanour when he was provoked into,—I should rather say, for it is that I mean, when he bore, with unperturbed and inexhaustible good humour, what would have provoked almost any other man; and when he suffered to remain in the quiver arrows which he could have sent forth with unerring aim and vigour.” I have, myself, seen him on many such occasions, and a harsh or unbecoming word never, in my presence, fell from his lips. The only feeling, I am persuaded, that he ever entertained towards his most determined opponents, might be expressed in the words of our Liturgy;—“That it may please thee to forgive our enemies, persecutors, and slanderers, and to turn their hearts: We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.”
The pain arising from this unremitted hostility was doubtless much alleviated by the kindness of his numerous friends. There was, indeed, something in his character and deportment peculiarly suited to gain the affections of all that approached him; and seldom has any man, within the circle of his acquaintance,—a circle, which included some of the most distinguished individuals both in Church and State,—been more highly esteemed, or more generally beloved. The regard entertained for him on those parts of the Continent, which he visited a few years ago, and from which he transmitted to this country so much interesting and important religious intelligence, is well known to many of my hearers: and there is reason to believe, that the friends of the Bible Society abroad will feel his removal, in common with ourselves, not merely as a public loss, but as the loss of a friend and a brother. [30]
But the great source of his consolation, and the crown of his rejoicing, was the wonderful progress of his beloved Institution. Was every successive year charged with new troubles and additional anxieties? But the great work was also steadily advancing. Were there many adversaries? But a great door and effectual was opened; kindred Societies, both in the Eastern and Western world, were not only rising in rapid succession, but were effectually communicating their own spirit to many subordinate Associations, within the sphere of their respective influence: and testimonies were continually pouring in, from all quarters, of the moral and religious effects consequent upon this increased diffusion of the Holy Scriptures. These things abundantly compensated him for all his anxieties; and he dwelt with especial delight upon the prospect now apparently opening before the face of all people, of life and immortality brought to light by the gospel.
Does any person then demand where are the works that shall follow him? The appropriate answer would be, Where are they not? They are to be found in every region of the globe: wherever the word of God has run, and been glorified through the agency of this Institution, or of the Societies to which it has given birth: and into whatever lands the gospel of Christ shall, by these means, be extended, there will be recognized the effect of that mighty influence, to which, under the divine blessing, he so largely contributed.