PREVIOUS to Mr. Jackson's settlement at Warminster, the interest was reduced very low, and the church divided; but under his ministry, by the uniting influence of the great Head of the Church, they soon became an harmonious body; and the congregation continued to increase till the old inconvenient house gave place to a new, neat, and very commodious building, calculated to seat 800 persons. This meeting was erected by the exclusive efforts of the congregation, who thought they did honour to their minister in exerting themselves, without troubling him to solicit the assistance of the religious world. In June following his ordination, he was united to Miss Eliza Butt, an amiable and serious daughter of a late venerable deacon of the church at Yeovil. So soon as he thus became settled, he applied himself, with great assiduity, to increase his mental stores; and his mind rapidly expanded. At home, he continually grew in the affec tions of his people; and abroad, he stood high in the esteem of his neighbouring brethren in the ministry. But it is not in the study alone the man of God is to be thoroughly furnished to every good work; he must pass through the fiery ordeal; and as he enjoys comforts in common with men and Christians, so it is necessary he should be exercised with trials similar to theirs, that he might be able to mourn with those that mourn, as well as to rejoice with those who rejoice. No sooner had he felt the pleasing emotions of a parent, that a man child was born unto him, than he had to sustain the poignant feelings of a bereaved husband. Mrs. Jackson died December, 1798, soon after the birth of her first child, of a complaint in her head, to which she had been long subject t Scarcely were six months more elapsed, when he was called to the painful office of closing the eyes of his father-inlaw, who had followed his daughter from Yeovil to Warminster, chiefly for the advantages of her husband's ministry. These strokes were deeply felt by a mind possessing, as Mr. Jackson's did, exquisite sensibility; and yet, through the power of divine grace, "In all this he sinned not, nor charged God foolishly" but restless nights and hard study impaired his nervous system, if not his constitution, and occasioned a slight paralytic stroke'while in the pulpit, which excited considerable aların among his friends. In May 1800 he married Miss Prescott, a young lady of genteel fortune, ward of the Rev. M. Wilks, of London. In this connection he had fresh proof that" man is born to trouble." Within a few months he was again threatened with one of the chief of human trials; but mercy was mingled with judgment, and Mrs. J. was graciously restored.. From his first settlement with the people at Warminster, his congregation gradually increased; and he now saw a constant audience attendant upon his ministry, which, with every accommodation, the new meeting could not seat. Accompanying proofs of his usefulness were not wanting, though to himself they sometimes appeared inadequate. To a friend, in Jan. 1801, he writes, "We are, through mercy, going on in our usual way, that is, with the most perfect unanimity; and now and then a soul awakened to a concern about its best interests, excites joy in Heaven and pleasure on earth, by crying out, What shall I do to be saved But, alas! though I am not without encouragement, I am, on the whole, discouraged, by seeing so littie done. This frequently makes me miserable, shuts me up in preaching, if not in words, yet in spirit; and sometimes forces me to question whether, in preaching the gospe. I am doing the work God bids me do, or only attending to that my vanity has chosen." The prevalence of these feelings, and the hope of more extensive usefulness in new ground, with a warm attachment to the scenes of his youthful labours, occasioned his seriously thinking of a removal to the vicinage of London: but the affectionate appeals of his people, and the concurring semiments of his friends, determined him to wait a farther revelation of the will of Providence. For this he did not tarry in vain. The winter of 1801 witnessed a great revival. The attendance on week-night ordinances increased in threefold proportion. Conviction was general, especially among the poor, who lay very near his heart, and conversions were numerous. At the Common, the chief residence of the manufacturing poor, about a mile from the town, the inhabitants, extremely indigent, were also notoriously immoral when he began to visit them. He at first delivered a weekly lecture in a large room; but his affectionate and ingratiating manner in duced such numbers to attend, that it became almost impossible to respire in the place; and a plain meeting was buil: in 1802 for their accommodation, where from two hundred and fifty to three hundred persons attended on his ministry. In April 1893, he met a new and severe trial. He had always manifested a peculiar attachment to female children; and frequently expressed a wish that Providence might favour him with a daughter. This favour was conferred in March 1802: a sweet babe entwined herself about his heart, alas! only to prove that "roses grow on thorns, and honey wears a sting.' The Lord saw meet to take back what he gave. The child was seized during Mr. Jackson's absence on a visit to Bristol tabernacle, and scarcely survived twenty-four hours. This afAliction was very severely felt, and was, doubtless, the exciting cause of complaints, which close and constant study, and frequent labours had been long generating His conduct and conversation on this occasion peculiarly excited the admiration of his friends; and have frequently produced the remark from his widow, that it proved a gracious preparation for her fiery trial, having not a little influenced and supported her since his removal. Indeed, he afterwards acknowledged that, fearing to dishonour God by indulging his feelings, he had, by endea vouring to suppress them, greatly increased his bodily disorder. In June Mr. J. was attacked with dizziness and faintings, accompanied by symptoms of general debility. He, nevertheless, preached as usual three times on the Sabbath, and twice beside in the week, till finding his complaints increasing, he took the opinion of a physician, but did not fully communicate it to any one, having been recommended to discontinue preaching: an idea so unpleasant to his mind, that shortly after, writing to a member of the church, he says, "It is of all trials the inost painful to me; 1 am even now (the physician's opinion having been corroborated) afraid to give it up; and think I should prefer dying in it, to living out of it." Attributing the increase of his complaint to the heat of the weather, he was prevailed upon to try the effects of sea-breezes and bathing. He accordingly visited Weymouth, took medical advice there, and used every mean, but in vain, for the restoration of his health. During a month's continuauce at Weymouth, he preached twice only; but found the last service so difficult, as to compel him to be very short; and he remarked to his hearers, it was most likely the last se mon he should ever preach. His text was taken from Job, "Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom." His language and manner were, on this occasion, energetic and impressive; and there appeared scarcely an unaffected person in the place. Tuesday, Sept. 26, he returned to Warminster, and appeared the next day very little affected by his journey. Thursday he kept his chamber; but rather to prevent his being exhausted in conversing with his friends, whose solicitude prompted them to make personal enquiries, than from any sensible increase of indisposition. In the evening he had a return of the violent vomitings, to which he had been subject at Weymouth; but which had there been considered as the effect of extreme debility. The continuance of these symptoms, and the very great stricture on his breath, obliged him again to seek the advice of a physician, who visited him on Friday evening, and pronounced his disorder an extension of the liver; but gave flattering hope that it would be easily reduced. On Saturday morning appear ances were less favourable; and while communicating his apprehensions to a friend of Mr. Jackson, the Doctor was sur prized by the abrupt annunciation, "He is going." This was a mistake, produced by a convulsion fit; a succession of which terminated his sufferings. He continued through Saturday with his symptoms apparently so far improved, that, when leaving the house, the physician congratulated him on the fa vourable turn of his complaints; and inspired him with the expectation of being restored to health and usefulness. Throughout Saturday night he laboured hard for breath, and begged to have the window open, as he suffered the continual sensation of fainting, which, as often as he was inclined to doze, prevented him. On Sabbath morning he became conscious that his case was critical; but was not apprehensive of his approaching dissolution till within twelve hours of his death. On recovering from a convulsion fit in the afternoon, he blessed God for so good a night; and observing the light, enquired the hour: being informed it was half past two, he said, "Is it Sabbath afternoon still? how long have I been asleep?" Learning that it had been but a few minutes, he observed, "How strange I should feel so refreshed!" A friend took this oppor tunity of apprizing him of his state, and noticed to him that he would soon enjoy a new Sabbath. He answered, "Not so soon, perhaps, as you expect;" but the opinion being acquiesced in by another friend, he replied immediately, "If sin be pardon'd I'm secure, Death has no sting beside; The law gave sin its damning pow'r, But Christ my ransom dy'd." He then broke forth in a highly experimental and evangelic strain, encouraging his surrounding friends to stand fast in the good ways of God. Of his room it might be truly said, "The chamber where the good man meets his fate Is privileg'd beyond the common walk: His God sustains him in the final hour; A lecture silent, but of sov'reign pow'r; |