A Sect That Moved the World

A SECT THAT MO V ED THE W O RLD

THREE GENERA TIONS OF CLAPHAM

SAINTS AND PHILANTHROPISTS

O HN TELFO R D B . J , . A

AUTHOR or ’ “ ‘ THE mm W r m: u se o r C HARLES wnsun r OF JOHN ESLEY. , “ ’ ’ m : o r Tm: UPPER ‘ wxsm v s ca n “. STORY ROOM , AND wxsm v' u n ’ s ous . , ETC

WITH PORTRA ITS AND I LLUSTRATIONS

g a n h n n CHARLES H ! ELL . Y

z m u n n ca m n , cm ! ow . AND 26 PATERNOSTB ! ow, a c.

SECT THAT MO V ED THE W O RL D

THREE GENERA TIONS OF CLAPHAM

SAINTS AND PHILANTHROPISTS

OHN TELFO RD B A . J , . AUTHOR OF W ’ ‘ W ’ THE LIFE OF JOHN ESLEY, THE LIFE OF CHARLES ESLEY, ’ ’ ‘ THE THE ‘ wa sm v s AND STORY OF UPPER ROOM , CHAPEL W ' ’ ESLEY S HOUSE . ETC.

WITH PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRA TIONS

z n n b a u H R E H ! ELL C A L S . Y z E E 26 PATERNOS’I‘ ER Row CASTL STR ET, CITY ROAD, AND ,

Debicatcb TO

P. PERCY M. THORNTON, M. ,

ATTERSEA I SE U E OF B R HO S ,

G RANDSON O F

MP U . . SAM EL THORNTON, ,

A ND

R N M M. RS. PERCY THO NTO ,

MP HENRY THORNTON, . .

P R EF A C E

THIS little b ook appears on the eve of the Centenary of the Abolition of the Slave Tr a d e. The scenes at Clapham in which in that unwearied, unostentatious, and glorious crusade was carried on for twenty years may still be visited ; and as we enter House i Battersea Rise , wh ch was the head quarters of the campaign , or step inside the C parish hurch , where the Clapham Sect loved to worship , we seem to share the inspiration of those heroic workers . The links between the leaders of the Evangelical Revival and these famous sons of the All Church of England were very close . were moved by the same spirit , and laboured for the same ends . In these pages indications of sites and houses have been made as clear as possible , so that visitors may be able to ﬁnd them without di fﬁculty . The last chapter may serve as a guide to those who are strangers 9 IO PREFACE

e to the neighbourhood . It is a great pleasur to be allowed to dedicate this little book

M. P. to Percy M . Thornton , Esq . , , and

Mrs . Thornton , who live in the house where Henry Thornton and William Wilber force carried on their great campaign against the slave trade . I have gratefully to acknowledge my R u special debt to Mr . B . . T cker for most of the photographs of this volume“ Mr . Thornton has allowed photographs to be ’ Ho n er s taken of John Thornton , of pp painting of Henry Thornton, and of Bat ’ t er sea Rise House . John Thornton s house has been photographed by the kind I permission of its present occupants . f ’ owe the illustration of Mr . Wol f s house to the kindness of Mrs . Spokes . ’ ld l a h a O C . Mr . Grover s p m and Dr John ’ Venn s A n n a ls of a Cler i ca l F a mily have been carefully consulted . Dr . Venn has kindly read the proof- sheets and given me the beneﬁt of his knowledge of the h a subj ect . He s also supplied the portraits of Henry Venn and John Venn and the

View of the old parish church of Clapham .

J OHN TELFORD . C O NT E NT S

CHAPTER I

VENN AND HIS FRI ENDS AT C LAPHAM

CHAPTER II

V ENN AND THORNTON I N LATER LI FE

CHAPTER III

THE CONVERS I ON OF WI LLI AM WI LBERFORCE

CHAPTER IV

THE ABOLITION OF THE S LAVE TRADE

CHAPTER V

CHURCH MISSIONARY SOC I ETY 1 2 CONTENTS

CHAPTER VI

THE I NHERITORS OF THE G REAT TRAD I TION

CHAPTER VII

A PI LGR I MAGE IN CLAPHAM

I NDE! LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

BATTERSEA RISE HOUSE

M A . a ci n . 2 V . HENRY ENN , f g p 4 J OHN THORNTON ’ S HOUSE JOHN THORNTON CLAPHAM PARISH CHURCH

MA V . . JOHN ENN ,

B MP WILLIAM WIL ERFORCE , . .

’ MR . WOLFF S HOUSE AT BALHAM

B E THE LI RARY , BATT RSEA RISE HOUSE

MP. HENRY THORNTON; .

’ WILLIAM G REAV ES SCHOOL

TAB LET TO WILLIAM ARTHUR IN CLAPHAM WESLEYAN CHURCH

TO ME THE THORNTON , AND HENRY ’ THORNTON S TAB LET

CLAPHAM WESLEYAN CHURCH

THE P OLD ARISH CHURCH , CLAPHAM I3 Sir Ja mes Steph en i s still th e chi ef author ity for th e h istor y of th e C a a Sec h ose e a n e i ca sa in s of h i a r e l ph m t . T v g l l t s sa n s n ee e a r e e a n a n d m a al i t i d d , but th y v ry hum , it y f l out tha t th e spice with which h e embalmed them will pr e serve their lin ea men ts when th e hol y m en of a n ewer d i s ’ en a i n a r t h e er es s e e n s p s t o e m t of k l to . ' MAITLAND Li e o Lesl e e S i St h en . I6 f f p , p .

Th e Cla pha m Sect very wisely a bsta in ed fr om plun gin g n o or for c e e e n ot e ali fie a n d e ot e i t w k whi h th y w r w ll qu d , d v d t e se es t o or t o c e er e or o hl e a h m lv w k whi h th y w th ug y qu l . T e e e m en of s n ess a n d e ev o e h e r s n ess h y w r bu i , th y d t d t i bu i e n of a ll r oses or e ca pa cities t o th oblest pu p . Wilberf c con r e h is on e e s asi e e o en ce h is soc a t ibut d w d rfully p r u v l qu , i l nflen ce h is con n ex on t m en of t h e o of a ll sor s i u , i wi h w rld t Th orn ton h i s kn owledge of a ffa ir s Stephen h is lega l a cumen Z a cha r y Ma ca ul a y h i s orga n iz in g powers ; J oh n Ven n h i s n t e n sen e T e er e o e or ess m en of sa c ifi d commo s . h y w m r l eal a n d e e a e t a ea t a s e a a t a en w th , th y r g rd d h t w l h lit r lly l t ’ t o b e employed i n th e Master s use a n d wha t w as per ha ps of ar ess o a n ce a a en t t o a e t h e ost of a s h dly l imp rt , t l m k m , n s n e en co d o o ly bu i ss m uld .

V AND REETO N The En li sh Chur ch . 2 . O ERTON , g , p 35 CHAPTER I

CLAPHAM Tha t I m ay live t o th e glor y of Th y Na me I a petiti on ’ in Hen en n s a F o of P a e a e t h e ﬁr s ry V d ily rm r y r , m d t ‘ He a s e W a ee e o s ess on on h is n . d p r ligi u impr i mi d k d , h t i s it t o live t o t h e glor y of G od ? Do I li ve as I pra y ? ’ W a t co se of e o I t o r s e t o or G od ? h ur lif ught pu u , gl ify He a e in th e C o s er s of T n Co e e Ca r e w lk d l i t ri ity ll g , mb idg , ’ ’ th e e f St Ma s was o n a t n n e o c oc a n d a s o . b ll ry t lli g i l k , am s th e so e n t on es a n d a ses of th e e a n d t h e id t l m p u b ll , s n ess a n d a n ess of th e n o n e i n im till d rk ight , w uld i dulg ess e a n d a eﬂec on s on Dea a n d e en t pr iv wful r ti , th Judg m , ’ a en a n d el He v H l . CHAPTER I

HENRY VENN AND HIS FRIENDS AT CLAPHAM

U 2 1 80 A H NDRED years ago , on March 4 , 7, the House of Lords passed the historic Bill by which the slave trade carried on by British merchants and sailors was brought to an end . The story of the memorable struggle which was then crowned with suc cess is one of the glories of England, and no monuments in Westminster Abbey are more honoured than those of the great Claph a mites who had the chief share in the conﬂict and the victory . They have been commemorated in not a few classic bio graphies and hi stories . This little book attempts to set them in their local framework , and to supply a few links in the hi story which have sometimes been 1 8 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

l ’ overlooked . It tel s a story of God s providence over which Christian men will never cease to wonder ; and introduces us to a school in which all labourers for the highest good of the world may learn how to spend

their lives to the best purpose . English religion and phi lanthropy have no brighter ’ page than the story of The Clapham Sect . How closely t h e work which found its centre at Clapham is linked to the Evan gelica l Revival will appear from many in i c d en t s in this record . When John Wesley started the Ar mi n i a n

Ma a zin e 1 8 g in 77 , he inserted a selection l from his unrival ed correspondence . It began with the letters written by his father 1 2 and mother in 7 5 , when he was think

ing of entering Holy Orders . Month by month some original document appeared di which made Meth o sm , with its early struggles and victories , stand boldly out before the eyes of a later generation . In 1 ’ November 797 , six years after Wesley s

death , a letter is printed which had been

sent to him by a young clergyman . The

20 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

very substantial service to me , and be esteemed an inestimable fa vour .

And if you consider , sir, the various snares a curate is exposed to , either to pal li at e the doctrines of the gospel, or to make treacherous allowances to the rich and great , or at least to sit down well satisﬁed with doing the least , more than the best, among the idol shepherds—ii you consider these things , you will not , I hope , con demu this letter as impertinently inter r u t in m p g you in your noble employ ent , or think one hour lost in complying with its request . It is the request of one who , though he differs from you, and possibly ever may in some points, yet must ever acknowledge the beneﬁt and light he has received from your works and preaching : and th erefore is bound to thank the Lord di of the harvest , for sen ng a labourer among us, so much endued with the spirit and power of Elias, and to pray for your long continuance amongst us, to encourage me and my brethren , by your example, while you edify us by your writings . HENRY VENN AND HIS FRIENDS Z I

u I am , sir , yo r feeble brother in

Christ , ’

V . H . ENN

The curacy to which Venn refers was that of Clapham , on which he entered the same ’ year . Wesley s private charge to Venn has not been preserved, but there is no doubt that he sent it , for an answer written the same month to a similar request from a friend of

’ Venn s , Samuel Furley, is to be found in the

Ch r i sti a n Mi scella n 1 8 . y, 4 9 Wesley little dreamt that his correspondent was to b e come one of the chief guides of the Clap

in li . ham Sect . Venn wrote a glow of fee ng The previous morning he had made his ﬁrst attempt as an extempore preacher at his ’ ’ An th olin s father s old church, St . , where he was lecturer on Wednesday mornings at seven . He describes that as a morning which he long remembered . Venn was the ﬁrst London clergym an who revived the practice of extempore preaching . Wesley was then in Bristol , recovering from the serious illness which led hi m to write his 2 2 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

t r a n scr ib own epitaph at Lewisham, and

eN T sta men t ing his Notes on th em e . He had

been silent for four months, but ﬁve days after the letter was written he was allowed hi to preach a sermon . T s letter seems to ’ have escaped the attention of Venn s circle .

n n a l s o a Cl er i ca l F a mil 2 In A f y (p . 9 ) it is said that his friendship with Whi teﬁeld was of considerably earlier date than that with

Wesley . Wesley’s correspondent was the son of

Richard Venn , the ﬁrst London clergyman who refused to allow Whiteﬁeld to take his

pulpit . An interesting account is given by

‘ T er m a n hi s Li o Whi ld e te e . y , in f f ﬁ (i ’

of a service in St . Margaret s, Westminster, where Whiteﬁeld was sa id to have seized the pulpit and kept out the appointed hl preacher . Mr . Venn sent a hig y coloured

report to the Weekly Mi scella n y . White ﬁeld had been invited to preach for an absent lecturer , but this clergyman had him

a self secured substitute , and the arrange ment clashed with that made between dl Whiteﬁeld and the Frien y Society . HENRY VENN AND HIS FRIENDS 23

Richard Venn came of a di stinguished fami ly of clergymen who had served the Church of England in uninterrupted succes ’ 1 Sion since William Venn s ordination in 5 95 . Richard Venn’s mother trained him to have the courage of his convictions . She was once asked when she intended to send him

Uni to the versity, and replied , When I ’ O l have taught him to say N bold y . He learned his lesson and bore a high character

l . at Sidney Col ege , Cambridge He became a distinguished High Churchman , and i enj oyed the friendsh p of Dr . Gibson ,

Bishop of London . He was Rector of St . ’ An th olin s , in the neighbourhood of Q ueen l Victoria Street . The church was pul ed m down about the ti e that street was made . Charles Wesley says in his jour n a l for

2 1 1 8 : Thursday, December , 73 At St . ’ An th oli n s the clerk asked me my name , M . r . and said, Dr [ ] Venn has forbidden Do any Methodist to preach . you call your ” “ self a Methodist ? I do not ; the world may call me what they please . Well ” , sir , said he , it is a pity the people should 24 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

go away without preaching . You may ” ’ preach . I did so, on good works . Ri chard Venn married Maria Ashton in

1 6 1 7 . She was the daughter of John

Ashton , a gentleman in the court service of James II . He was involved in a Stuart

1 6 1 . plot, and was executed at Tyburn in 9 Richard Venn was a close friend of the

- ﬁrst Lord Palmerston , great grandfather ’ r of Q ueen Victoria s P ime Minister, and

ﬁxed his summer residence at Barnes, that ’ he might be near to Pa lm er st on s house

at Sheen . Henry Venn was born at Barnes

a 2 1 2 . 1 on M rch , 7 5 His father died in 739 ,

- at the age of forty eight . Henry Venn was trained at J esus

his College , Cambridge , where high spirits,

o his amiable temper , and his store of ane

dotes, which he related in a manner ’ 0 u peculiarly interesting , made him very p p

lar . He used often to say that he owed the sal vation of his soul to the resolute self

denial which he exercised, in following the di ctates of conscience in a point which of ’ itself seemed one only of small importance . E R V E H N Y NN, M . A .

28 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD number of communicants from twelve to sixty . His zeal was obnoxious to some of n the eighbouring clergy, but an old fox

' hunting parson Silenced the accusers . Hush I feel a great respect for such men as Mr . Venn , and wish there were more of ! the kind They are the salt of our order , and keep it from putrefaction . If the whole body of the clergy were like ourselves, t the world would see hat we were of no use , and take away our tithes ; but a few of i these pious ones redeem our cred t , and save ’ for us our livings . William Law was now Venn’s favourite author . One day, however , he met a statement in Law ’s pages that the blood of Christ was of no more avail for our salva tion than the excellence of His moral cha t ’ r a c er . Venn s eyes were opened . He laid a n d aside Law, applied himself more closely U h to the study of his Bible . p to t is time

in his preaching had been severe , and he sisted on a standard of holiness to which it was scarcely possible that the frail chil l H ow dr en of men coud ever reach . e n b e HENRY VENN AND HIS FRIENDS 29 gan to see that we must not rely on perfect ‘ d -sufﬁcien t obe ience , but on the all merits ’ and the inﬁnite mercies of a Redeemer . A peace which he had not known before sprang up in his breast , and his preaching became more evangelical . His son says It is observable that this change of his sentiments was not to be ascribed to an intercourse with others it was the steady progress of his mind, in con sequence of a diligent and faithful applica tion to the Holy Scriptures , unbiassed by an attachment to human systems . It was not till some years afterwards that he became acquainted with any of those preachers who are usua lly k n own bythe name of Evangeli cal though his own views now agreed with theirs, and were strictly , and — in a proper sense , evangelical that is , in conformity with the motives and hopes ’ held out to us in the gospel of Christ . Henry Venn became curate at Clapham

t on h o 1 . S use in 75 4 Sir James , who held 1 2 the rectory till 79 , had been appointed in the previous year . Venn ministered in the 3 0 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

old parish church of St . Mary . There had been a church here Since the twelfth cen

. 1 6 tury It was used till 77 , when the new parish church was opened . The present church on this site is dedicated

P 1 81 . to St . aul, and was built in 5 One of the old Clapham incumbents was Nicholas Brady ( 1 65 9 who held the

1 0 - 6 rectory in 7 5 . He and Tate had pub lish ed their New Ver si on of th e Psa lms of

Da vid in 1 696 . It was denounced as ﬁne and modish , ﬂourished with wit and fancy, gay and fashionable but whatever faults it had are forgotten as we sing its immortal versions

‘ ’ Th r ou h all th e ch an in scen es of i e g g g l f .

’ O r en er h a n k s t o Go a o e d t d b v .

’ i h or c a wi h s r en h ar r a e W t gl y l d , t t gt y d .

’ ’ Ho i h h e s n w blest s e w o n er con e ts.

‘ ’ As an s th e h ar for o in r p t t c ol g st ea ms .

Brady ’s fame as an eloquent preacher must have lingered in the parish , but Henry V enn has nothing to say about him .

’ ’ The Atkins monument in St . Paul s HENRY VENN AND HIS FRIENDS 31

church still links us to the days of Venn .

Henry Atkins was physician to James I , and is said to have bought the manor of Clapham with the present of b e stowed ou him by the king after his return from Scotland, where he had gone to attend

Prince Charles in an attack of fever . His grandson , Sir Richard Atkins , was buried 1 68 in the old Clapham church in 9 . Manning and Bray described the Atkins ’

Hi stor o Sur r e monument in their y f y, but it totally disappeared for a time . Mr . Grover, the local historian and antiquary , found a tradition that it had been stowed away in a ’ vault on the north side of St . Paul s church . In December 1 885 he had the ground opened , and discovered the vault with the R marble monument to Sir ichard , his wife , son , and two daughters . This was restored and set up in the church after seventy years’ ul oblivion in the va t . Many distinguished residents had left their memory in the village to which Henry 1 6 Venn came as curate . In 63 Sir Denis

Gauden, Victualler to the Navy , erected an 3 2 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

l ] exce lent , useful , and capacious house on ’ the Common . Pepys says he built it for B his brother, the ishop of Exeter , who had been promised the diocese of Winchester and wanted this for his town house .

Gauden sold it to Mr . Hewer . John r 2 1 6 2 Evelyn visited him he e on June 5 , 9 , and says that he got a very considerable hi estate in the Navy , in w ch , from being ’ Mr . Pepys clerk , he came to be one of the

' '

O ﬁl IS . principal CC Mr . Hewer lives very ’ handsomely , and friendly to everybody . The house had its principal front facing the

S Common , and stood on the west ide of The Chase; where The Terrace and Victoria Road

. 2 now are The estate consisted of 4 3 acres, laid out in the Dutch style , and reached to the grounds of The Cedars and Wandsworth

Road . Pepys Spent his last days under ’ Mr . Hewer s roof . Evelyn writes on Sep

2 1 00 . tember 3 , 7 Went to visit Mr Pepys at Clapham , where he has a very noble and

- a m well f ished house , especially with India ’ 6 . 2 1 0 and Chinese curiosities On May , 7 3 , he reports the death of Mr . Pepys, who HENRY VENN AND HIS FRIENDS 33

lived at Clapham , with his partner, Mr . sweete Hewer, in a very noble and place , where he enj oyed the fruit of hi s labour in b e great prosperity . He was universally loved, generous, learned in many things , and skilled in music a very great cherisher of learned men , of whom he had the conver ’ l sation . The house was pul ed down about the time that Mr . Venn became curate . A little to the west stood another famous house—The Cedars—beautifully decorated and said to have been designed by Wren or Inigo Jones . It was pulled down in 1 864 .

As curate at Clapham , Venn conducted a full service on Sunday morning and preached on Thursday evening . He also — t ﬁlled three London lectureships a St . ’ Alban s, Wood Street , on Sunday after noon ; on Sunday evenings and Tuesday ’

n . L mor ings at St Swithin s , ondon Stone ; and on Wednesday mornings at seven at

’

. An th oli St n s . We are scarcely surprised to ﬁnd that a severe ill ness in 1 75 6 in capacitated him for more than eight months 34 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

for public service . His chastening bore good

fruit . His whole religious life was deep ened during this time of retirement and

trial . It was no doubt through this illness that he was able to attend Wesley ’ s Con 1 6 ference at Bristol in August 75 . The Wesleys and about ﬁfty of their preachers carefully considered the Rules of the So ciet y , and all agreed to abide by them all, and to recommend them with all their ’ might . The rules of the bands and of

Kingswood School were also reviewed . Wesley says : We largely considered the necessity of keeping in the Church , and usin g the clergy with tenderness and there a ll was no di ssenting voice . God gave us to be of one mind and j udgement . My brother and I closed the Conference by a solemn declaration of our purpose never to separate from the Church and all our brethren concurred therein . Whiteﬁeld writes to James Hervey on 6 1 : . December 9 , 75 All is well at Clapham ’ I have expounded there twice . Venn

36 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD inﬁni tely more importance than his being a ’ di sciple of Calvin or Arminius . 1 In May 75 7 , whilst he was curate at i Clapham , Mr . Venn married El ng, one of the daughters of the Rev . Thomas Bishop ,

I s D D . . , minister of the Tower Church , p wich . Her son says she was a woman of the most sincere and exalted piety , directed by a sound j udgement , and enriched by a sweetness of disposition and animation which rendered her particularly interesting , ’ as a companion and a friend . Charles Wesley ’ s letters contain several 1 1 references to the Venns . On July , 75 5 , he writes : I spent two hours with Mrs .

Venn and Mr . Venn . The former stands ’ her ground as yet . This is evidently Henry ’ Venn s mother .

1 8 On June 7 , 75 , he says that he had lately blamed Mr . Venn for his long ser u mon , but himself preached for near an ho r

. 2 and a half at the Foundery On July 9, 1 i 75 9 , he took Mrs . Venn with him to d nner ’ at his sister s , Mrs . Wright . He says She has stood her ground against the HENRY VENN AND HIS FRIENDS 37

whole religious world, and her husband at their head neither can she yet give up her love , her special love , for the Methodist al people and ministers . She tenderly s utes you , whom she despairs of seeing again in the flesh . I am far from confident of seeing her myself but I trust to find her again in that day, among the children ’ whom God hath given us . Charles Wesley seldom prefixes the year to his letters , but Dr . John Venn fully agrees with me that this reference is to ’ Henry Venn s mother . What a comment on the position which her husband took 22— (pp . 3) is here ’

di . After ning at Mrs Wright s , Charles

Wesley rode with Mrs . Venn to Cheapside . f ’ Th er e she left me in body, not in heart . ’

. 1 62 In Mrs Venn s will , proved July 9 , 7 , she is described as of Bread Street , London . 2 1 On February 7 , 75 9 , Charles Wesley was t h wi h W iteﬁeld, Venn , and others at Lady ’ Hun tin don s g , where the Lord met us at ’ 1 1 66 l 0 . His tab e . On May , 7 , Mr Venn ’ breakfasted with him at Mr . Boult s . 38 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

Henry Venn referred in his letter to Wesley to the danger of palli ating the gospel or making treacherous allowances to the rich and great . That , as he soon dis a ll covered, was not what the rich and great in h is new parish expected from a minister of

Christ . The most notable man in his con — gr ega tion was Sir John Barnard ( 1 685 1 764 ) then member of Parliament for the City of

London . He held that post of honour in 1 seven successive Parliaments . In 737 he was Lord Mayor of London . Sir John was a recognized authority on all ﬁnancial

questions , and had refused the post of

e 1 Chanc llor of the Exchequer in 74 6 .

To show their esteem and regard , the citizens of London erected a statue of him

’ 1 in Gresham s Exchange in 74 7 . Sir John ,

with characteristic modesty, could not be persuaded to enter the building after

wards . One beautiful incident will show the spirit

. 1 1 1 61 of this eminent man On January , 7 ,

Mr . Venn writes to Mrs . Knipe , sister of

: Mr . John Thornton Your account of HENRY VENN AND HIS FRIENDS 39

r e Mr . John Barnard is very moving . It is markable that he was once very much struck w with , and seemed not to agree ith me in, an observation I made , one Thursday even ing , to this effect that if we were without chastening , whereof all are partakers , then are we bastards , and not sons that is , the God of heaven and earth neglects our edu cation , and is provoked to overlook us , as

- men are wont to do their base born children . I had more than one or two conversations with him upon the subj ect, and I suppose the continued prosperity he had met with , the honour and high esteem he was always held in , led him to conclude that he wanted this mark of a child of God . Since this time , hi s you see , the cross has been portion , and a long season of increasing in ﬁr mities and

a t pain , and all the exercises of patience

a l tending ingering but mortal malady , have been appointed to him . I shall be glad to hear of his dismission for, sure I am , my eyes have scarce beheld his fellow . Such constant circumspection and such deep u C n l h mility , such unfeigned hristia ove , 4 0 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD expressing itself in a total abstinence from evil speaking , is rarely to be found, even amongst the faithful in Christ Jesus . Happy saint ! to be so near the glorious

un transformation . What a mighty and speakable change in a moment will he soon feel—from being burdened with a body full di of weakness and sease , to enj oy the liberty di of a pure spirit ; and, from being stracted in the contemplation of his God by a failing memory and a weakened understanding , to hold high and inexpressible communion with the Father of Spirits , without end or interruption l

After the death of Sir John Barnard , 1 6 in 7 4 , Mr . Venn drew up some brief

oi r s 1 86 Mem . In 7 these were at length published from an impulse of affectionate reverence for his memory, no longer to a be resisted, and as a sign l instance that

hi s one of the ﬁrst men of age , and the

- glory of London, attained this pre eminence from the best principles which can govern ’ the human mind . Another inﬂuential member of the Clap

4 4 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

married Mr . Wilberforce , uncle of William hi Wilberforce , who became the c ef glory of the Clapham Sect . Wilberforce , of course , was born in Hull and there John

Venn , Rector of Clapham , and Henry

i . Thornton, found their accompl shed wives CHAPTER II

AND THORNTON IN Cons cious of n o a ims but such as might in vite th e scrutin y of G od a n d m a n h e ur s e e a e h is own ea ess , p u d th m ft r f rl as on — e n t o e er on es l se e s n a o c f hi yi ldi g v y h t impu , r li hi g fr li en e in h is w a c oos n h is a ssoc a t es in sco n of wh it f ll y , h i g i r e e o ece s a n d o s n a n e l o m r w rldly pr pt , w r hippi g with y f l w C r s a n os e ea ea t i n n son t h is own o e e h i ti wh h rt b u i wi h , h w v r in ha rmon ious might b e some of th e ar ticles of their respective ’ creeds. SIR E on oh n Th or n on in The Cl a h a m Sect JAMES STEPH N , J t p . CHAPTER II VENN AND THORNTON IN LATER LIFE HENRY VENN did not ﬁnd his work at

: Clapham altogether encouraging . He says Grieved at the obstinate rej ection of the gospel during ﬁve years by almost all the rich (and there were very few poor in the place), I accepted a living unexpectedly f f o fered me by my very a fectionate friend, ’ the Earl of Dartmouth . This was the

Vicarage of Huddersﬁeld . His wife was very reluctant to leave her friends in Clap ham . The Vicarage was only worth £1 00 — a year less than half what hi s income had been at Clapham ; but he thought that living would be considerably cheaper in the north . When he found, after a few ’ months experience , that he was mistaken , he was almost resolved to return to Clapham ; but his wife felt that it was his

4 7 4 8 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

duty to remain at Huddersﬁeld , and dis sua d ed him from returning to the south . When he went to look at the proposed living he wrote to his wife from Hudder s

on 1 1 . ﬁeld, April 5 , 75 9 Tell Mrs Knipe that leaving her and her dear brother will be a bitt er ingredient in my cup . You must assure her there shall be a Mrs . ’ - Knipe s room at the Vicarage house Mrs . Knipe expressed her intention of visiting

Huddersﬁeld every year, and the con ﬁden tia l letters which passed between her and Mr . Venn Show that she still regarded him as her pastor .

In the year of his removal Mr . Venn published a volume of fourteen sermons, dedicated To the gentlemen of Clapham , as an acknowledgement of the very many civilities and marks of friendshi p received by him during the time of his residence ’ amongst them .

Mrs . Venn died at Huddersﬁeld on 1 1 1 6 September , 7 7 . At the beginning of October Wh iteﬁeld spent two or thr ee days at the Vicarage to comfort his friend . VENN AND THORNTON IN LATER LIFE 4 9

Her husband kept his connexion with hi s old parish and his devoted friends there .

1 6 . In March 7 9, when Mr Thornton was f High Sheri f for Surrey, Venn preached at his request the Assize Sermon at Kingston

u- 1 o . 2 Thames . The text was Zech . ix

Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners ’ of hope . Man a condemned prisoner, ’ and Christ the stronghold to save him . ’ After he left Mr . Thornton s roof, Venn

r : w ote Oh that God would make me , a in my sphere , and my de r friend, and every one of us who dwell together , such ! trees of righteousness as he is Indeed , his humili ty can only be equalled by hi s bounty, and by his watchfulness and ’ diligent use of the means of grace . Another sentence shows how he treasured his Clapham circle . Thus , by coming at times to be a week or two with my friends, ’ ai the cement of friendship is m ntained .

Mr . Thornton visited him at Huddersﬁeld , and when Venn moved to Yelli ng h e called there in August 1 779 on his way to

Hull . 5 0 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

Mr . Venn laboured at Huddersﬁeld for twelve years, during which he attained a foremost place among the Evangelical hi leaders of the day . His preac ng made

a deep impression . Huddersﬁeld was the ﬁr st large town outside of London in which Evangelicalism , apart from Metho 1 ’ di sm Cam lete Dut o , took root . Venn s p y f ’ Ma n , a compendium of a Churchman s principles and duties, was a good piece

of work , though it never attained the

l Wh ole Dut o Ma n popu arity of the y f , which it was intended to supplement and correct . Venn ’s friendshi p with the Evangelical leaders of his day, and his own gospel preaching, brought him much reproach . 1 66 In 7 a clergyman asked him to preach , but went off after the service without a word of thanks . Who would have ’ thought , he said , that such a cheerful , Open countenance as his could have any connexion with Methodism The preacher was not without compensation , for two

1 H stor o he E l h e i t n is Chur ch . r on a n d Rel n y f g Ov t to .

5 2 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

! one that cometh to Christ otherwise , when I compare my life and my spirit with hers , I could not believe the same ’ heaven was to contain us .

When Venn met John Fletcher at St . 1 6 Neots in December 77 , he was so absorbed in the conversation that Fletcher had to remind him of the meal in front of him . 1 From Bath, in June 777, Venn wrote S Dear Mr . Fletcher, who is inking under ul di a painf sease , accosted me thus I love His rod ! How gentle are the stripes I feel ! how heavy those I deserve !

They were both guests of Mr . James

: Ireland at Brislington . Venn says I was for Six weeks in the house with the

extraordinary and very excellent Mr . ! Fletcher . Oh , that I might be like him

I do assure you , that I strictly observed

him for six weeks , and never heard him speak anything but what was becoming a pastor of Christ ’ s Church—not a single

of h is unbecoming word himself, or of

h i s antagonists , or of friends . All his conversation tended to excite to greater VENN AND THORNTON 1N LATER LIFE 5 3 love and thankfulness for the beneﬁts of Redemption while his whole deportment breathed humility and love . We had many conversations . I told him , most freely , that I was Shocked at many things in his Checks and pointed them out to f fﬁ him . We widely di fer about the e cacy of ’

Christ s death , the nature of j ustiﬁcation , and the perfection of the saints ; but I believe we could live years together , as we did , in great love . He heard me twice and I was chaplain both morning and evening in the family , as his lungs would f not su fer him to speak long or loud . He desired his love , by me , to all his Calvinistic brethren ; and begged their pardon for the asperity with which he had written .

I am persuaded , as I told him , that if he were to live with some of those , whom he has been taught to conceive of as Anti n omia n s , and hear them preach, he would ’ be much more reconciled to them . On Venn ’s return to Yelling he told his people from his pulpit that Fletcher was ‘ like ’ an angel on earth . 5 4 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

1 8 In 7 3 he was at Madeley . He speaks of Mr . Fletcher, a genius, and a man — of ﬁr e all on the stretch to do good to lose not a day, not an hour . He is married to a lady worthy of him—Miss — Bosanquet a lady with whom I was

- acquainted twenty nine years ago . She was then sixteen , and brought up in all the pride of life , her father being one of the chief merchants of London . By the grace of God she renounced the world , from her heart , and gave herself to the

Lord . Since then she has bred up seventy four destitute young girls for service , and seen them placed out to her satisfaction ;

r and, instead of d essing , visiting , and conforming to all the vain and expensive customs of the world , she has been wholly i employed in doing good . I left th s happy house , as Cecil , Secretary to Queen Eliza ’ beth , left Bernard Gilpin s , saying, There dwells as ”much happiness as can be known on earth . ’ Li e 1 8 When he read Fletcher s f , in 7 7 , Venn writes What a shining example ! VENN AND THORNTON IN LATER LIFE 5 5

t What a proof that zeal , and cons ant

- application , and self denial , can work wonders What a proof that comm un ica tions of the Spirit of Christ , though not for t merit of any hing in us , yet are always in proportion to the pains we take in setting apart solemn times for humiliation , and for seeking after God , that we may have much counsel , direction , and blessing from Him , in our work , and in our souls

In a letter to Lady Mary Fitzgerald , 1 8 W March 3 , 7 7 , he says that hen he thanked Fletcher for two sermons preached in his church at Huddersﬁeld he di d answered , as no man ever to me , in a way the most affectin g I can conceive

ai with eyes and hands uplifted , he excl med ! Pardon , pardon , pardon , O my God It went to my very soul : I shall never forget it He adds that Fletcher thought the day lost , and could ﬁnd no rest in hi s soul, unless he was doing good to the ’ bodies and souls of men . From Wesley Henry Venn became some what estranged as years passed . 5 6 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

He says in 1 775 : Amidst very much ’ error , one great cause of Mr . Wesley s success , some years ago , was his urging Christians not to rest without j oy in God from receiving the atonement . Indeed , he erred in making this knowledge to be j ustifying faith itself, instead of the fruit thereof and also as to the mode in which ’ the knowledge is required . 8 1 8 On April , 7 9 , he tells his daughter Catherine I am not sorry you have

—a heard Mr . Wesley very extraordinary man , but not to be believed in his assertions about perfection . It is an error , built upon false interpretation of some Scripture pas

in sages , ﬂat contradiction to others which

cannot be mistaken . It is an error the

Church of Christ has always condemned .

It is an error that matter of fact confronts .

So far from being perfect , alas Christians

fret and quarrel and fall out , and have so

many faults , that if God , as Job speaks of

himself, should contend with us , we could ! not , no , not the best upon earth answer

Him, one of a thousand . Behold ! I VENN AND THORNTON IN LATER LIFE 5 7

am vile ! bel ongs to all in the Church . I hope you were not shaken in your mind . Never give absolute credit to what you hear from the pulpit which is not proved by plain Scripture . How much more good would Mr . Wesley have ! done , had he not drunk in this error as there are , doubtless , many very ex cell en t Christians amongst his people ; but the best are sadly harassed by this false ’ doctrine . This Shows how far Venn had moved from Wesley , and how little he really understood the doctrine which Wesley taught . Wesley , who says , We both like to speak blunt and plain , without going a ’ great way round about , wrote him a beautiful letter explaining certain points

Wo k . r s . ( , xiii but the breach grew Canon Overton says Christian Per fec i ’ t on is Wesley s designation , Sinless Per

fection . that of his opponents Guarded,

as Wesley guarded it , it is perhaps a whole

some and inspiring doctrine , and one which

- b ut leads , not to self righteousness , to 5 8 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

O exactly the pposite result , as is ﬁnely expressed in the last stanza of Charles

’ Wesley s noble hymn , attached to his brother’ s equally noble sermon on Christian Perfection

’ Now l et m e ga in per fection s h eigh t ! Now l et m e in t o n oth in g fa ll ! B e ess h an n o h in in si h l t t g my g t , ’ An d feel th a t Chr ist is a ll in a ll ! 1

Mr . Venn became Rector of Yelling , about twelve miles from Cambridge , in

1 77 1 . He exerted a great inﬂuence among his parishioners . One farmer , who had been an inﬁdel , said publicly when he left the neighbourhood : Though I have lost 20 0 more than £ by my farm here , I shall never repent my coming . I have gained at the church what is worth more than ’ the world . Venn had been vexed and wretched at his coming , and at the removal of the man whose place he took , but he

’ saw that a providence was in it . Venn s inﬂuence was far wider than his parish .

1 Hi stor o th e En li sh Ch ur ch 1 1 —1 800 1 y f g , 7 4 , p . 74 .

60 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD themselves unreservedly to the promotion of the gospel of Christ . The party wrote down the heads of that interesting con e v rsation ; but , added my friend , I had no occasion to write it down , for it was impressed indelibly upon my memory ; and that day stands distinguished amongst al l the other days”of my life , like a day spent in Paradise . Th e . Rev Charles Simeon , from his entrance into Orders , had most intimate

access to him , and enj oyed much of his

‘ ’ company and conversation . John Venn , ‘ he says , introduced me to his own dear

and honoured father , Henry Venn , and oh, what an acquisition was this ! In thi s

aged minister I found a friend , an instructor , and a most bright example ; and I shall have reason to adore my God to all eternity

for the beneﬁt of his acquaintance . How great a blessing his conversation and ex ample have been to me will never be

known till the Day of Judgement . I dislike the language of panegyric ; and therefore forbear to expatiate upon a character VENN AND THORNTON IN LATER LIFE 61

which is , in my estimation , above all praise . Scarcely ever did I visit him , but he prayed with me , at noonday as well as at the common seasons of family wor ship ; scarcely ever did I dine with him ,

hi s but ardour in returning thanks , some

r times in an approp iate hymn , and some

in in times a thanksgiving prayer , has

oi ﬂamed the souls all present , so as to give us a foretaste of heaven itself . And in all the twenty- four years that I knew him , I never remember him to have spoken unkindly of any one , but once ; and I was particularly struck with the humilia tion which he expressed for it , in his prayer , ’

. 1 82 . the next day On October 9 , 7 , Mr Venn says that Simeon had been over to see him six times at Yell ing within the

last three months . He is calculated for l great usefulness , and is ful of faith and

love . My soul is always the better for his

visits . Oh , to ﬂame , as he does , with zeal , and yet be b ea utiﬁed with meekn ess ! The Venns introduced Simeon to John Thorn

ton , and probably also to John Newton . 62 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

Mr . Venn generally came from Yelling to spend a few weeks in London each year . He preached on Sundays and often in the week . The sermons were largely attended and much blessed . Meanwhile John Thornton had been u purs ing his own path of service . He was one of those rare men in whom the desi re to relieve distress assumes the

’ form of a master passion . He inherited a fortune of from his father , and became known as one of the rich merchants of Europe . Half his income was devoted to charity . He is said to have induced

Dr . Green , Bishop of Lincoln , to ordain John Newton when others had refused to 200 ea r do so , and allowed him £ a y that he 'might keep open house when he lived at

Olney . Cowper refers to him as ‘ John Thornton the Great , who , together with his three sons in Parliament , has , I suppose , a greater ’ sweep in the city than any man . He wrote some verses in his memory in 1 November 790 . He addresses him as J OHN THORNTON .

VENN AND THORNTON IN LATER LIFE 65

Fa med for th y pr obity fr om sh or e to sh or e Hea ven g a ve th ee mea n s To il u in e wi h e i h t th e sa es scen es l m t d l g dd t , Till th a ea r a n ce ch ase th e oo or or n y pp d gl m , f l i i of a om AS i n i h a n d es a r n m . m d g t , d p g Th ou h a st a n in us r in oin oo d d t y d g g d , Restless a s hi s wh o t oils a n d swea ts for food ; ’ AV r ice in th ee w a s t h e desir e for weal th B le o ea h y r ust irn per ish a b r by st lt .

According to Sir James Stephen , Thorn ton relished a frolic when it came in his

hi s way , and indulged passion for relieving distress with a disdain , alternately ludi cr ous and sublime , of the good advice which the eccentric have to undergo from ’ the j udicious . He maintained the most cordial relations with his Nonconformist neighbours . Sir

G . O . Trevelyan says Old John Thorn

of ton , the earliest the evangelical magnates , when he went on his annual tour to the south coast , or the Scotch mountains , would take with him some Independent or Wesleyan minister who was in need of a holiday ; and his foll owers in the next generation had the most powerful motives 66 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD for maintaining the alliance which he had inaugurated . They could not neglect the doughty auxiliaries in the memorable war which they waged against cruelty , ignorance , and irreligion , and in their less momentous skirmishes with the votaries of the stage ,

’ - the racecourse , and the card table .

Memor i a ls l The of Wi liam Bull , the

Independent minister at Newport Pagnell , to whose care John Newton entrusted

Cowper when he became Rector of St . Mary

Woolnoth , supply a pleasant illustration of this friendly feeling between Churchmen and Nonconformists . Mrs . Wilberforce was with her brother , Mr . Thornton , at 8 1 2 . Hastings , in September 7 She wrote to Mr . Bull I long to have you added to my family , as do the rest of us . I have foun d out a snug place for you to smoke a pipe in , and talk and think on Him who

’ a stilleth the w ves . They had three houses for their party , and held religious services in the middle one . Another illustration is found in the Life o ose h B en son f [ p , the Methodist commenta

68 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

strengthen you in your work , and for

: l your work and be ieve me ,

Yours affectionately , ‘ ’ JOHN THORNTON .

A little society was formed , to which

Mr . Thornton became a liberal subscriber . Out of this grew the Naval and Military

Bible Society , which did memorable service in our army and navy , before the British and Foreign Bible Society was formed .

1 8 . Mrs . Thornton died in 7 5 Her hus band was spared a few years longer . Henry Venn says in a beautiful memorial dis

‘ course , The Love of Christ the Source of l ’ 2 . . Genuine Phi anthropy , based on Cor v

1 1 4 , 5 , that doing good was the great business of his life , and may more properly be said to have been his occupation , than even his mercantile engagements , which were uniformly considered as subservient ’ to that nobler design . He bears witness that his old friend was exact and punctual ’ in the private exercises of the closet . In the middle of May 1 790 Venn writes VENN AND THORNTON IN LATER LIFE 69

On Wednesday I hurried down to Clapham f to see Mr . Thornton , who has been su fering greatly from an accident which caused a great loss of blood . However , he is now in good spirits , and has had two good

con se nights . Still , he may feel serious uen ces im q , and his life , seemingly so ' ’ portant to us , be brought to an end . He died in November at Bath .

Mr . Venn writes : I have very sensibly felt the loss of my old affectionate friend ,

John Thornton , after an intimacy of thirty six , , ! years from his ﬁrst receiving Christ till he took his departure with a convoy of

s ee angels , to Him who so long had been a ll his salvation and all his desire . Few of the followers of the Lamb , it may be very truly said , have ever done more to feed the hungry , clothe the naked , and f help all , that su fer adversity , and to Spread th e savour of the knowledge of Christ cruciﬁed ! His son Samuel wrote to Mr . Venn : I earnestly pray that his Children may follow him in his faith and practice and may their latter end be like 70 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

hi s ! which was indeed glorious, through the power of Him who hath conquered

death and the grave . My dear father has

left you a legacy of £5 0 . He had named

you a trustee for his church patronage , in a former will but the change was made ’ for your son , as a younger life . In report

hi s ing this to son , Henry Venn says

A ring also was enclosed in the letter .

I shall eye it often with a mournful pleasure . No such memorial was needful to remind

me of my oldest friend on earth , but one .

My parlour , my study , yourself, and his m e liberal, donations to for many years , f ’ are memorials never to be e faced .

Henry Venn came up to London . It

' was pleasing to hear only of one subj ect ,

— Ga in s in all the serious circles the beloved , and all his goodness and the grace , from

’ whence it all ﬂowed , was in every one s ’ mouth . He rej oiced that he had come to see the children of my dear departed ar friend, John Thornton , and to he of his ’ life , acts of love , and death . The nurse

: told him To see the sons , the day VENN AND THORNTON IN LATER LIFE 7 1

di before he ed , weeping tears of grief and f love , and to hear the dying saint a fection ately exhort and press each to hold fast

o f the faith , and to lead the life a Christian , f was to the last degree a fecting . They asked him whether he was now happy

: Yes , said he , happy in Jesus all things ar e as well as they can be And the last words he was able to articulate

esus were , Precious , precious j would have been added , but his breath ’ failed .

His daughter , Lady Balgonie , after wards Countess of Leven , did not see him for three days before he died , as Sh e and her children and servants were f su fering from scarlet fever . He was buried at the north side of the old churchyard .

The Rev . Henry Foster of Camberwell preached his funeral sermon from the words , Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord John Newton spoke of him in his own church , and said Mr . Thornton had given away in acts of love and‘ mercy

Mr . Venn thought 72 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

or an estate of a year, would be nearer the truth . He has died worth r no more than At Mr . Hen y

’ Thornton s request , I spend , God willing ,

’ D S the next Lord s ay with hi”m , and peak

t . a the old house . Not , wrote Mr

Wilberforce , to a mourning family but to a family who”have abundant cause to rej oice and sing . In 1 792 Venn says : Were there but one thousand loving Christians of great

O - pulence in Britain , like minded with John

Thornton , lately gone to heaven , the nation would be j udged and convinced of

. e the good operation of the gospel Ind ed, h O e I sometimes indulge the j oyful p , that

the Philadelphian state is approaching , when Christians Shall be as much distin

uish ed g by their bowels of compassion , ’ and active love , as by their creed . Henry Venn spent his last days in

Clapham . John Venn wrote in his di ary for 1 797 (January My dear father began ’ to occupy his hired house adj oining mine .

That was in Rectory Grove . His eldest VENN AND THORNTON IN LATER LIFE 73

daughter, Eling , had married Charles

Elliott , of Bond Street , and afterwards of

Grove House , Clapham . He was one of the members of the ﬁrst Committee of the

Church Missionary Society , and was an upholsterer . Grove House was near the

Old Rectory , and seems to have been pulled down when the Rectory was demolished . m John Venn had arried Miss King , of Hull , 1 8 1 0 in 7 9 , and in 79 his youngest sister

Catherine married the Rev . James Harvey .

’ Henry Venn s second wife was dead , and his daughter Jane kept his house . During the last six months he was often on the verge of the grave . His doctor said that the prospect of heaven so elated his mind U that it proved a stimulus to life . pon one occasion , Mr . Venn himself remarked “ some fatal appearances exclai”ming , Surely these are good symptoms ! Dr . Pear

: son replied Sir, in this s”tate of j oyous excitement you cannot die . He entered

2 1 . into rest on June 4 , 797 The poet Cowper said I have seen few men whom I could have loved more had 74 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD opportunity been given me to know him better ; so at least I have thought , as ’ often as I have seen him . Henry Venn was of middle height and became decidedl y stout in later life . He had an open , rather rubicund countenance and extraordinary personal charm .

78 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

1 774 there were about 24 0 houses and inhabitants ; these had grown in

1 778 to 34 4 houses and inhabitants . 8 The population rose steadily . In 1 0 1 1 81 1 1 828 it was , ,

1 826 . and in , occupying houses A regular service of coaches was running four times a day to London before the end of the eighteenth century . The coaches four inside and ten outside pas sen er s ei h teen en ce g , at fares of g p inside and a shilling outside . The ﬁrst coach left for the City at nine . The growth of the vil lage may be seen from the fact that in 1 827 the coaches began to run every ten minutes . The religious life of the place now required a new centre . The old church had become quite inadequate to the needs of the parish , and in 1 775 the present church on the common , dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was built at a cost of The archi

t . tec was Mr . Couse It was ninety feet by sixty, large enough to hold almost the o e Whole population f th par ish . It was CLAPHAM PARISH CH URCH .

CONVERSION O F WILLIAM WILBERFORCE 81

1 0 1 6. opened on June , 77 The present 1 0 chancel was added in 9 2 . This church was part of the preparation which the fathers of the Clapham Sect made for their successors . But they di d far more important service in the preparation of the workers who were to win such abiding victories in the cause of religion and phi lanthropy all over the world . The ﬁrst place must be given ‘ to John Venn , Rector of Clapham , to whom the whole sect looked up as their ’ pastor and spiritual guide . He was him

a l self native of the vil age , where he was 1 li born on March 9 , 75 9 . Wil am Wilber force , the great layman of the sect , was

2 . born the same year in Hull , on August 4 ’ The clergyman s son grew up in an a t m os h er e al p of simple , practic piety, and he did honour to his training . In July 1 773 Henry Venn says that he had determined to put his son under the care of Joseph Milner , the ecclesiastical historian , at Hull for a year . He seems, W indeed, to be all I could ish, and still continues ﬁx ed in his choice of being a 82 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

’ 1 6 preacher of Christ . In August 77 he writes I have no fear of my son ’ s abilities they are excellent : and I hope he is indeed dr awn by grace to desire the

ministry . Nothing can be better than his be hi m haviour here . I pray for day and night

desiring only one thing , that he may be made ’ an able minister of the New Testament . It was j ust before his ordination in 1 782

that young Venn met Charles Simeon , who

- b ecame hi s life long friend . John Venn was appointed Rector of

1 8 . Little Dunham , in Norfolk , in 7 3 On 2 April 9 , when he was settled there , his father wrote him a letter which breathes the spirit of the Evangelical Revival : You are now to consider yourself as a missionary, sent to teach and preach Jesus Christ . Savages are not more ignorant of His glory and love than are nominal Christians . Look upon your people as prisoners under condemnation for whose pardon and recovery you ought to feel , as a tender mother does for the child at her breast . I would have you preach upon the Com

84 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

Sir J ames St on h ouse since the year before Henry Venn became his curate there up 1 to 792 . He was the third son of Sir

St on h ouse J ohn of Radley, Berks , but

his elder brothers, who held the baronetcy

in succession , both died without leaving an ’ heir . The rector s successor in the title was

t on h ou e . S s his cousin , Dr J ames , who had founded the county in ﬁr m a r y at Nor th a m p

ton , and under the inﬂuence of Philip 1 Doddridge took Holy Orders in 74 9 . He

was a friend of Hannah More , who wrote of him as the Shepherd of Salisbury ’ 1 Plain . He died in 795 . When the living at Clapham became 1 1 2 vacant on April 3 , 79 , through the death St on h ouse of Sir James , the rector, it was f o fered , according to instructions left by

Mr . John Thornton , to the Rev . Henry

Foster of Camberwell , the friend and ’ assistant curate of William Romaine , who declined it . The living was then given to John Venn , who was instituted in 1 May 792 . Henry Venn wrote What an honour and lustre is thrown upon CONVERSION OF WILLIAM WILBERFORCE 85

’ ! d f Mr . Foster s character To what a i ﬁcult and dangerous post is my son called !

He is in great weakness , fear , and trembling .

Now is the time of temptation . Now, more than ever , prayer should be made , that ’ he may glorify God . J ohn Venn came to 1 live at Clapham in March 793 . He was about ﬁve feet seven inches high , slender in youth , but somewhat stout in later life . The father took a lively interest in his old parish and in all his son ’ s responsi b iliti es . In Septemb er 1 794 he says You will oblige me much by writing me the

Clapham news . How much do I enj oy your present full employment , and the account of your church being so well attended ! I am glad Mr . Grant [of the East Indi a Company] will have no other house but that on Clapham Common .

May you be more and more united , and the sons of my old friend , and Mr . Wilber force and quicken and excite each other

d o ' m uch to in the service of Christ , and evi dently magnify His name 86 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

1 1 6 On January , 79 , Henry Venn says I am not displeased with the Opposition of the Hun tin gt on i an s to your preaching their hatred is much to be preferred to their praise . You write , you are well satisﬁed ; and you have cause to be so ; not only from the full approbation of your friends at Clapham , but from the whole tenor of the Word of God for you teach and preach as the Oracles of God . It therefore gives me pleasure to see you stand in the place your father did—pelted on one side by ranters clamouring for

a n d Sinless perfection , on the other by

’ Antinomian abusers of grace . John Venn established a Sunday evening service at Clapham Church, and was one of the ﬁrst clergymen to introduce

a d district visiting n parish schools . It was not only the followers of William Huntington who looked with suspicion on

such men as John Venn . The Evangelical

party, it has been pointed out , was the strongest spiritual force in the Church of England at the end of the eighteenth cen V J OHN ENN , M . A .

CONVERSION O F WILLIAM WILBERFORCE 89

‘

e t o . tury, b cause here was no ther It repr esented a small minority, either hated or despised by most Churchm en . Bishops regarded Church- Methodism as a disease to ’ i be extirpated . One incident brings th s

- in out a striking fashion . A near relative of Dr . Randolph, the Bishop of London , u after being his g est at Fulham Palace , went to Visit Mr . Venn at Clapham . The

hi s e a rector sent son , who aft rw rds recorded Ch r i sti a n Obser ver the incident in the , to

’ ‘ wait at the Bull s Head for the Visitor .

It was three hundred yards from the . rectory in Larkhall Lane [pulled down in but the prej udi ce agai nst the Evangelicals was so great th at the bishop could not allow his carriage to stop at ’ Mr . Venn s door, though it might be sent 1 - to put a lady down at a public house . All that the Evangelicals did was viewed with suspicion . Hugh Pearson , afterwards

al Dean of Salisbury, was most rej ected by the bishop because he spoke favourably o f ’ e o Pr a ti ca l Vi ew o Ch r i sti a n it Wilb rf rce s c f y .

1 H stor o Ch r ch Mi ssi on a r Soci et i . i y f u y y , 39 . 6 90 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

Trinity College , Cambridge , declined to admit Henry Venn’ s son as an under graduate . Isaac Milner, then Dean of

1 8 1 . Carlisle, wrote in August 3 that Dr

Randolph , the late Bishop of London , was ‘ most abominably tyrannical and prejudi ced up to the ears . His enmity to the Bible Society has been excessive and unreason ’ in able the highest degree . He adds that the Bishop of Carlisle had been prejudiced beyond example by Lord Lonsdale , and had got it into hi s head that we are all ’ Dissenters, or little better , at bottom . William Wilberforce was born at Hull on

2 1 z August 4 , 75 9, in an Eli abeth an mansion in High Street , then the principal residen tial quarter . The house was opened as a 1 6 2 0 . Wilberforce Museum on August 4 , 9 The b oy was sent to the Grammar School kept by Joseph Milner assisted by his brother Isaac , afterward Senior Wrangler

In com a r a b ilis a nd p , Professor of Mathe m at ics at Cambridge . Even as a schoolboy Wilberforce gave promise of unusual ora

' t or ica l r ich wer e gifts . So the tones of his

92 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

mi beco ng useful in life . On his return to Hull Wil berforce w as

h im His r make a man of the world . mothe was a w oman of real excellence as well as hi ul of great and ghly c tivated talents, but not possessed at thi s time of those views

’ in later life . She is described as an Arch

The honour in which Wilb erforce w as held

r i in 1 80 tion as its membe of Parl ament 7 . Four years later he became representa for l a tive the largest constituency in Eng n d, th e n s u divided county of York. He oon

’ of the House of Co mmons .

d on n was e . The you g member a gen ral

fa te in ed vouri society , and seem well CONVERSION OF WILLIAM WILBERFORCE 93 launched on the way to prosperity and

God a favour . But had chosen Willi m

Wilberforce for Himself . The Methodist leaven implanted in hi s mind and heart by his aunt at Wimbledon was working secretly . 20 1 8 On October , 7 4 , Wilberforce started hi s with mother , his sister , and two lady relatives on a continental tour . Isaac

Milner was with them . Just before this j ourney Wilberforce casually took up a — little volume by Doddridge Th e Ri se a n d

Pr o r ess o Reli i on i n th e Huma n Soul g f g , hi U ’ w ch Mrs . nwin , Cowper s correspondent ,

r had given to the mother of one of the pa ty . e Wilb rforce glanced at it hastily, and asked

Milner its character . It is one of the best ’ t ak books ever wri ten, he replied, let us t e ’ an d it with us read it on our j ourney .

Wilberforce gladly consented, and the friends studi ed it carefully together whilst they were abroad . It led Wilberforce to resolve that at some future time he would examine the Scriptures for himself and see if thin gs were stated there in the same man n ner . He and Milner returned to Engla d 94 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

1 8 l n in Februa ry 7 5 . The fo lowi g July h t h e a h t ey were oget er at G no , w ere they began t o rea d t he Greek Testa ment an d n it a closely exa mi e s te ching . A gradua l cha n ge was ta kin g plac e in 8 be c . N be 1 0 1 Wil rfor e On ovem r , 7 5 , he l o P a got bac k to Wimb ed n . arli ment did n o l b e e n t meet ti l Fe ruar y . Wilb rforc spe t much of t he inter val alon e holding close co m h his own m n a n d h m union wit i d eart . ‘ He says : It was not so muc h the fear of is m n i was f e as pun h e t by wh ch I a fect d , a sen se of my grea t sinfuln ess in having so lon g n eglected t h e un speaka ble mercies of my God a n d Saviour ; a nd such was t h e f hi i s h e fect w ch th t ought produced , that for mon ths I was in a state of deepest de ssi m s n s on i ns pre on , fro tro ge t c v ctio of my l n d h hi a gui t . I dee , not ing w ch I h ve read in the ac counts of others exceeded what I ’ felt . He wrote to tell Pitt about h is new con ict ions a n d the P m is v , ri e Min ter came out h i h e b m. T n Wil erforce turn ed to the “ CE NJ . WI LLIAM “WILBER FOR .

CONVERSION OF WILLIAM WILBERFORCE 97

venerable John Newton , Rector of St .

Mary Woolnoth , for advice in his per plexities . di On December 9 he ned with his aunt , e . . M . Mrs Wilb rforce He writes. r Thorn f dl ton there . How una fecte y happy he is Oh that I were like him ! On the 2 1 5 t of the same month he went to Newton ’ s church . The j ournal notes , He has my leave to mention my case to my aunt and ’ Mr . Thornton .

his J ohn Thornton had long been friend . When Wilberforce was a schoolboy he gave him an unusually large gift of money with an exhor tation to bestow some of it upon the poor . Mr . Thornton was not long in i act ng on the information received . His letter, which has been preserved, is a beau tiful revelation of the heart and mi nd of the old Clapham saint .

T ll o Wi i am Wilber or ce Es . f , q

AP D ecem ber 2 CL HAM , 4

‘ MY D R — EA SIR , You may easier con ceiv e than I can express the satisfaction 98 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

I had from a few minutes’ converse with

AS Mr . Newton yesterday afternoon .

in nature , so in grace , what comes very

quickly forward, rarely abides long . I f am aware of your di ﬁculties, which l ca l for great prudence and caution .

Those that believe , must not make

’ haste , but be content to go God s pace , and watch the leadi ngs of His Provi dence , as of the pillar and the cloud

i n formerly . There is a danger running from church to church to hear more proﬁt n er is obtained u d one or two ministers . You cannot be too wary in forming con n i n s ex o . The fewer new friends, perhaps , the better . I shall at any time be glad “ to see you here , and can quarter you, t and let you be as re ired as possible , and hope we Shall never be on a footing of ceremony .

Sir I am, my dear , r n You most devoted kinsma , T ’ JOHN HORNTON .

’ Wilberfor ce s j ournal shows th e effect

1 00 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

Henry Venn had his share in the trans in l e formation wrought Wil iam Wilb rforce . In May and June 1 785 he preached each

Sunday at Surrey Chapel . He writes I have crowded audiences . Many of the clergy are generally present . The Sub Dean of the Chapel Royal was there la st

Sunday, and came into the vestry to speak to me Mr . Cecil says I do very wrong to come for so short a time He woul d per suade me to undertake for half the year . ul m Vain wo d be the atte pt , unless I kept a curate . Mr . Wilberforce has been at the chapel , and attends the preaching constantly . Much he has to give up !

And what will be the issue , who can say ’ i 1 1 Wilberforce s uncle had d ed in 77 , 1 88 but his aunt was spared till 7 . She lived at Blackheath , and in the spring of

1 786 wrote with deep feeling to the Rev . Willi am Bull about the change that had taken place in the religious View s of her nephew. It was a glorious renewal of

ir min d and heart . S James Stephen CONVERSION OF WILLIAM WILBERFORCE IO I

writes that after his conversion , God

in was all his thoughts . Inhabiting at once the visible and the invisible worlds , he rej oiced over his bright heritage in ’ each .

e a e t h e h or r r a e a t all e en ts b e a n Imm di t ly quit id t d ; v , on es m a n e er t o o er i s d ue h a h t . Giv lib ty wh m lib ty , t t is t o e er c il of m a n t o e e a a er of a n n a e , v y h d , v ry p rt k hum tur . L et n on e ser e ou h is own a ct an d ee h is own v y but by d d , by

o n a c o ce. A a i h a ll s all c a i n s all v lu t ry h i w y w t whip , h compulsion T hts u l 1 hou on S ave . JOHN WESLEY , g p ry , 774

Th e n ear e n os en a o s an d n or o s c sa e u w i d , u t t ti u , i gl i u ru d a ga in st sla ver y i s a mon gst t h e three or four per fectly ’ a ct h e of n at n vir tu ous s recorded i n t history io s. ! Eur e n M s 1 60 o a or al . . LEC Y , p , i CHAPTER IV

THE ABOLITION O F THE SLAVE TRADE

THE toilsome path of duty was now

O i . pen ng before Wilberforce . He says in 1 786 : God has set before me two great obj ects, the suppression of the Slave trade and the reformation of ’ r manne s . Granville Sharp and Thomas Clarkson had aroused public feeling now Wilberforce became the mouthpiece of b a growing party . Pitt had een urging h im to devote hi mself to the war against the Slave trade . Wilberforce writes Pitt recommended me to take its conduct , as a subj ect suited to my character and talents . At length , I well remember , after a conversation in the open air at the root of an old tree at B olwood (in j ust above the steep descent into the vale of 1 c Keston , I resolved to give noti e on a ﬁt

1 A ston e sea t wi th th ese wor d s upo n it w a s pla ced a t h is S o r n h e in t p t b y Lo d Sta op 1 86 2 . 1 06 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

occasion in the House of Commons of my ’ intention to bring the subj ect forward .

Thus he girded h imself for his task ,

and, as Sir J ames Stephen says, by paths till then untrodden reached a social and political eminence never before attained

by any man unaided by place , by party, ’ or by the sword . Granville Sharp founded the Society for 1 8 the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 7 7 , and the facts brought out as to the horrors suffered by the negroes on board the slave ships led next year to the appointment of a Committee of the Privy Council to make ’ inquiries . Pitt s resolution that Par lia ment should deal with the question next session was carried unanimously . The number that might b e b or n e in Slave- Ships was ﬁxed by Act of Parliament . Th e crusade against Slavery in which Wilberforce was engaged brought him into close contact with the . most earnest and enlightened men In England . Two of his friendshi ps have special interest for students of Methodism .

‘ 1 08 A sECT THAT MovED THE WORLD

R J ames ogers, who was with Wesley on his ‘ last little tour to Leatherhead , says that the f ’ night following we stopped at Mr . Wol f s,

at Balham , on our return home . At these places Wesley rested comfortably, and rose

’ each morning at four o clock , it being his usual hour of rising for more than Sixty

r e years . On the Friday morning, after an i tiring half hour, he des red me to read to him part of the account j ust then f s published, on the su fering of the poor negroes in the West Indies ; and before breakfast, to write a letter to a friend in di Cork , which was the last he ever ctated and it was with the utmost difﬁcul ty he signed his name ; nor did this eminent ’ writer ever after use the pen . The previous night he h a d written a n other letter, which has become a classic . Wilberforce heard no Well done on earth more inspiring than that which came from J ohn Wesley .

F ebr ua r 2 1 1 LONDON , y 4 , 79 . D —U MY EAR SIR , nless the Divine Power

1 1 2 A SECT THAT MOVED ‘ THE WORLD

i h e you in this and all th ngs is t prayer of, f dear sir, your a fectionate servant , ‘ ’ JOHN WESLEY .

1 8 Shortly afterwards, on April , Wilber force brought in his Bill for the Abolition i of the Slave Trade , but t was defeated 1 6 88 by 3 votes to . ’ Wilberforce s introduction to the Thor n ton household at Clapham bore lastin g ’ h e fruit . T youngest of J ohn Thornton s ’ sons h ad m et in h is father s house those who made gr eat profession of religion but were di shonourable in their daily conduct .

He says, This so disgusted me that , had it not been for the admirable pattern of consistency and di sinterestedness whi ch

S I saw in Mr . Wilberforce , I hould have

’ been in danger of a sort of inﬁdelity . Henry Thornton and Wilberforce formed

. 1 2 a warm friendship In 79 , two year s h ’ d after J ohn T ornton s eath, Wilberforce says : Henry Thornton h as bought Lub ’ bock s house at Battersea Rise, and I am S e to hare it with him, and pay so much p r ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE 1 1 3

annum towards expenses . Last night I went over the house with Grant and Henry

Thornton . How thankful I should be , to whom it is the only question which of many things, all comfortable , I shall choose A Mr . Lubbock , an ancestor of Lord vebury , sold Battersea Rise House to Mr . Akerman , from whom Henry Thornton purchased it . The house was ever ything that could be d desired . It was wreathe with honey r suckle and wista ia , and looked across an n extensive law , studded with aged elms an d - massive tulip trees, to distant vistas

’ an d - of open ﬁelds forest trees . Single ’ W speech Hamilton , hose maiden speech

“ as member for Pet er sﬁeld In 1 75 5 eclipsed hi s b all su sequent speeches , once lived in

h » Wa s t is house . He for some time Chancellor of th e Irish Exchequer . Th e s - principal itting room , known as r r al the lib a y, is a lofty ov saloon said to have been designed by Pitt on one of his

hi s -in - Visits to brother law, who was ’ m ﬁe . B r oo ld Mr Thornton s tenant at . The room was cur iously wainscoted with books 1 1 4 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

O on every side , except where it pened on

the lawn . Thornton and Wilberforce were both a t bachelors this time . Battersea Rise exactly met their idea of a quiet retreat where they might spend the week - end in ° devotion a n d h elpful intercourse with con

genial companions . Henry Thornton was

a banker in Bartholomew Lane , and

member of Parliament for Southwark . He ’ h inherited his father s p ilanthropic spirit , and before his marriage gave away six

sevenths of hi s income. The amount in some years exceeded Even after his marriage his smallest annual gifts reached He was the author of

Fa i P a er s the famous m ly r y . They were

prepared for use in his own household . Some who heard them there expressed a desire that they should not be conﬁned to th at circle . An imperfect edition was 1 8 printed, but in 34 Sir Robert H . Inglis di published another e tion . There are

t - - r twen y eight morning, twenty th ee even ing prayers, with ﬁve each for Saturday

1 1 6 A SECT THAT MOV ED THE WORLD

of the Saviour ’ s love but Thornton has a more uniform a n d abiding impression of hi s accountableness to God for every moment ’ of his time , and for every word he utters . Henry Thornton had blue eyes and a t strong Saxon face . Sir James S ephen

describes him as a man of j udicial nature .

Brows capacious and serene , a scrutinizing

eye , and lips slightly separated, as of one i who l stens and prepares to Speak , were the true interpreters of the informing mind ’ e W n within . Nothing which f ll ithi the range of his observation escaped his j udicial th e examination . To investigate great con t r ov er sies of his own and of all former

: times , was the chosen employment to pronounce sentence on them , the dear ’ delight of his leisure hours . He was not a man of any cr eative faculty, and apart from his glorious band of helpers he would not have accomplished any startling result but he may j ustly be described as the backbone of all the enter prises undertaken by the Clapham Sect . When Wilberforce b ecame immersed in THE B B E R E U LI RARY, ATTERS A IS HO SE. MP E ES . P RCY M . THORNTON, Q , .

1 20 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

not of words . Zachary Macaulay tells

’

1 : . Miss Mills, October 797 Mr Thornton s hi letter, in w ch were only eight lines, was long enough to give me the satisfaction of knowing that he had nothing particularly to blame ; a negative , but from Henry ’ Thornton no mean praise . He adds, that ’ n n when he was i England Mr . Thor ton s mind was in a most tumultuary state at the time , and even when talking to him on serious business he would all at once interrupt the conversation by proposing some question, or entering into some de ’ tails respecting Miss Sykes . ’ Thornton s mar riage to thi s lady made b Wil erforce homeless for a time, but he soon

found a congenial dwelling close to his friend .

When he took possession of the property,

Mr . Thornton had enlarged Battersea Rise and built two other houses on the estate .

The nearest of these , standing on its west side , was let to Mr . Charles Grant , the Chai rman of the Board of Directors of the

East India Company . He had been in the service of the Company, and returned ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE 1 2 1

1 0 home in 79 . Sir J ames Stephen speaks of his stately ﬁgure and the calm di gnity l of his Spacious brows , we l beﬁtting the a re l ruler of the rulers of the East . The i name of th s residence , Glenelg , keeps i al ve the memory of his eldest son . In this house the Rev . William Arthur lived for many years, after his return from

. di Belfast He ed at Cannes on March 9 , 1 0 1 9 , and a memorial tablet is ﬁxed at the entrance of the Clapham Wesleyan church , of which he was one of the chief supporters .

—B r oom ﬁeld w a The other house , as it s l l cal ed till Sir Charles Forbes , who ived 1 8 1 1 8 there from 5 to 77 , changed it to Broomwood— was separated from Battersea

Rise by shrubberies . It was ﬁrst occupied l by the Hon . Edward E iot , who married ’ i Pitt s sister, Harriet . When she d ed, in 1 86 September 7 , Wilberforce wrote I don ’t believe there ever existed between brother and sister a more affectionate attachment than between Pitt and Lady ’ Harriet . The statesman used to spend h is holidays here . 1 2 2 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

’ 1 In 797 Wilberforce rented Mr . Eliot s e i house as an occasional r treat . Eliot d ed Wa the same year . This s a great loss to for ho Wilberforce , except Henry T rnton there is no one living with whom I was so

’

much in the habit of consulting, and whose death so breaks in on all my plans in all ’ directions . After hi s marriage Wilberforce ﬁxed his

m B r oom ﬁeld ho e at . The house was pulled n 1 0 dow in 9 4 . A tablet in Wroughton R r oad marks its site, and its memo y v ‘ o is preser ed by Br omwood Road .

‘ In the year that h e entered on possession

B r oom ﬁeld A of , Wilberforce published Pr a cti ca l Vi ew of th e Pr eva ilin g Religi ous “ System 0/ Pr ofessed Ch r i sti a n s i n th e High er

a n d Middle Cla sses i n this Cou tr con n y,

ith - R al h r i sti an it wa tr a sted w e C y . That s his attempt to fulﬁl the great task of the reformation of manners which he felt that

God had set before him . His aim was to Show the scanty and erroneous system of m o r a nd it ost orth dox Ch istians, contrast with what the author regarded as real

ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE 1 25

s Christianity . Within ix months

C opies of the work were sold , and in a d A e n Englan d n . merica ditio followed t edition . I b ore notable fruit ,

B r oomﬁeld in 1 e e : H At , 799 , h writ s eard t o- day of a clergyman in the Isle of Wight sed to whom my b ook was bles , Oh, praise , wa R wh praise This s Legh ichmond , o wrote the touching record of Th e Da i r y ’ ma s Da hter h as n ug , which been blessed to the conversion of multitudes . In 1 798 Wilberforce goes to town directly ’ ’ for Methodists sake , to help them to resist the measure for Sunday drill in the Channel

on e Islands . Every wanted his support . Henry Thornton speaks of the heap of h i fellows that troubled m. He thought of giving up his villa that he might have more money for the poor . Already he gave away a fourth of his income . At Broom ﬁeld he was ‘ incessantly worried with com ’ T e pany . But he had compensation s h ’ r e nightingales a abundant . They have c long sin e taken ﬂight , though they have e ’ left their m mory in Nightingale Lane . 1 26 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

Wilberforce was the soul of all the social

gatherings at Battersea Rise . Bishop ‘ Jebb , the learned , great , and pious Bishop ’ ‘ ai of Limerick , s d he had the face of an angel and the agili ty of a monkey

il ce a n i s F i en ds . In W ber for d h r Mr J . C . Colquhoun describes a May evening in Henry Thornton’ s garden when mothers and i ch ldren gathered on the lawn Presently, streaming from adj oini ng v illas or crossing

the Common , appeared others who, like

Henry Thornton , had spent an occupied

n hi day in tow , and now resorted to t s well known garden to gather up their families

and enj oy a pleasant hour . Hannah More l is there , with her spark ing talk and

the benevolent Patty , the delight of young

- - and old and the long faced , blue eyed n Scotchma (Charles Grant), with his ﬁxed,

- calm look , unchanged as an aloe tree , known di as the In an Director, one of the kings of Lea d en h a ll Street ; and the gentle Thane,

LordTeignmouth , whose easy talk ﬂowed on , like a southern brook , with a sort of drowsy b murmur and Macaulay stands y listening,

1 2 8 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

n ﬂowers , a ball, is thrown i sport , and away dash , in j oyous rivalry, the childr en and the hi philanthropist . Law and statesmans p ’ O forgotten; he is the gayest child f them all . Battersea Rise was the head quarters O f the Clapham Sect , where all its projects were discussed and matured ; but one O f its most active and zealous members lived across the Common on th e edge of what is now the High Street . Zachary Macaulay w a s born in 1 768 at n Inverurie , where his father was the minister . There was a large family at the Manse , and Zachary was placed in ’ a merchant s counting- house in Glasgow Of at the age fourteen . He had a strong desire for a college training , but his father f could not a ford the expense . He had already gained by his own exertions a

e O f good knowledg Latin , Greek , and h Frenc , and had made considerable pro

gress in mathematics . He was also an e insatiable reader , and had such a m mory that when Wilberforce was at a loss for a d piece of information in later ays , he would ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE 1 29

’ B e say, Let us look it up in Macaulay . fore he was seventeen he was sent , at his own request , to push his fortunes in

- Jamaica . He became book keeper on a sugar plantation, where the punishment inﬂicted on the negroes made his blood run cold . He set himself to conquer his 1 8 squeamishness , and in 7 5 alludes to himself as cursing and bawling in a ﬁeld O f canes amidst perhaps a hundred negroes , while the noise of the whip resounding on their shoulders , and the cries of the poor wretches , would make you imagine that some unlucky accident ’ had carried you to the doleful shades . He did his utmost for some years to alleviate the hardships Of a considerable

Of number my fellow creatures , and to render the bitter cup O f servitude as ’ palatable as possible .

0 . His grandson , Sir George Trevelyan , adds other particulars . He had read his Bible too literally to acquiesce easily in a state of matters under which human beings were bred and 8 1 3 0 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

ai O f r sed like a stock cattle , while outraged morality was revenged on the governing race by the shameless licentiousness which Of is the inevitable accompaniment slavery .

He was well aware that these evils , so far from being superﬁcial or remediable , were essential to the very existence of a soci al fabric constituted like that withi n which he lived Zachary Macaulay was saved ‘ from the vulgar practices and manners which dis graced almost every rank Of men in the West Indies yet there is little doubt that he was becoming hardened to the suffering

Of Of around him , when an fer employment brought him back to England j ust as he

-ﬁr st had completed his twenty year . His favourite sister had married Thomas

O f Babington , Rothley Temple , and her husband set himself to help his young

him . r elative , and led to Christ He came home in time to render eminent

h il a n th r O ist service to the Clapham p p s . Henry Thornton had taken an active share in all th e arrangements for founding a

1 3 2 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD — my having any exercise the qua rter- deck was so fully occupied by slaves during the day as to render it di fﬁcult to move without di trea ng on them . If my state was

so uncomfortable, what must theirs have

been whom I saw around me , extended

naked on the bare boards , fettered with irons deprived of every means Of chasing O f away the gloom conﬁnement ; unable ,

when sick , to reveal the cause of their complai nts ; strangers to any portion O f that blessed and heart- cheering hope which makes the slave a free man ; ignorant O f the fate which awaited them ﬁlled with fears either Of a horrid death or a cruel servitude , and without the most distant prospect of visiting their native land, or beholdi ng the face of one of those friends and relatives from whom they had been forcibly torn . And what are we more than these ? Are not these also , even these, Of abj ect as they seem , the purchase a

’ Saviour s blood, and graven upon the palms of His hands P 1

1 e ve 1 8 . Ch r i sti a n Obs r r , 39 ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE 1 33

The horrors Of the middle passage were so great that out Of every hundred negroes put on board the slave- shi p in Africa only half lived to become labourers on the other

O f side the Atlantic . ’ The Gen tlema n s Ma ga zi n e for February 1 906 gives extracts from the ledger kept by the captain O f a Liverpool slaver in 1 8 — 1 1 1 7 5 7 . In 77 there were 95 English

- slave ships, capable of carrying 1 0 negroes . Liverpool had 7 ships, London 8 2 . 5 , Bristol 5 The ship of which John Newton was captain is entered in 1 75 3 as 1 86 carrying 25 0 slaves . In 7 the average number of slaves taken from Africa was O f whom English ships carried about The largest English ship carried A prime Gold Coast man would sell for £36 sterling in the West di ’ ’ In es . The slaver s ledger gives the hi fﬁ grim details of t s tra c . Each slave is numbered , and the height and sex are Of noted , with a list the articles given in exchange . One item is seven small boys ’ and one girl . Another entry runs 1 34 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

Bartered with Captain Vernier one man ’ boy for sixty gallons brandy . li On a visit to Cows p Green , the home 1 6 of Hannah More , in 79 , Macaulay met

Selina Mills , the daughter of a retired bookseller in Bristol , who was a member e of the Soci ty of Friends . Miss Mills had been a pupil at the school kept by Hannah

More and her sisters . She was born in 1 6 t 7 7 , and was extremely pret y and ’ attractive , with a sweet temper and retiring disposition . Macaulay did not intend to

hi s declare affection , but seeing the young lady weeping bitterly in a room as he left

hi s Cowslip Green , he gave expression to feelings and was not left in doubt as to the regard which he had inspired in her breast . Miss Patty More was jealous of ’ f t such a rival in her friend s a fec ion , but the attachment was proof against such opposition . On the eve of his departure to

Sierra Leone , Zachary Macaulay sent Miss

Mills a small Methodist hymn- book which, he says , was my companion in hunger and nakedness and distress . We must no

1 36 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

1 2 1 6 : Portsmouth , February , 79 I am

pestered almost to death with Dr . Coke ’ and his missionaries . Macaulay resigned his governorship in 1 s s 6 799 , and married Mi s Mill on August 2 . Their first two years of married life were spent at the offices of the Sierra Leone hi m l Company in Birc Lane, Cornhil . In 1 80 2 the Macaulays moved to Clap ham . Mrs . Macaulay always preferred a book to company , and it was somewhat a disappointment to her husband that she did not mix much in the social gather ings at Clapham , though at first she regularly accompanied hi m to Battersea Rise and

B r oomﬁeld on Saturdays . When he gave up his post in Sierra Leone Zachary Macaulay brought home a com 1 1 pany of negro children . On June , 799, he writes from Battersea Rise : On Wed n esd a y my black children got to Clapham a d in good health , and excited no small m ir a tion among our friends , who account them a highly favourable specimen of

Mr s. African youth . More , who is still an ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE 1 37

R inmate of Battersea ise , began to cate

chize one of them a little, and was much

pleased with his ready answers , though I ﬁnd on an examination which I instituted this morning that they have rather lost

ground during our separation . They live

about a mile hence in the village of St .

Pancras . I have been to the smallpox

hospital (in St . Pancras) to arrange for ’ their all being sent thither for inoculation .

A little later he visited them at the hospital, where he found that great attention was ai p d them . He gives an amusing account

of Mr . John Campbell , a missionary friend, escorting the youngsters across the Common to Battersea Rise . On arriving at Mr . ’ Henry Thornton s gate , he was alarmed to

hi s ﬁnd some of charge missing . It arose from companies dining in the neighbouring mansions, astonished to see a cloud of young Africans , sending out their men servants to try and catch some of them and bring them before them . They fancied all were their friends , and most willingly went with any who asked them John Venn 1 38 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD and Henry Thornton brought William Greaves from Yorkshire to teach the negro children , but the climate proved fatal , and 1 80 by the end of 5 only six were alive .

Ch r i sti a n Obser ver 1 8 2 A writer in the , 7 , describes a visit which he paid one Sunday afternoon at Zachary Macaulay ’ s request to the African Seminary . The negro boys stood in a semicircle round Macaulay, who examined them . Henry Thornton was at h is side , while Wilberforce , on the outside of the group , went from boy to boy patting them on the shoulders as they gave good n a swers to the questions , and adding a few words of encouragement and admonition to teach the same truths to their country

of men . Eight the boys were subsequently baptized at Clapham Church by J ohn Venn 1 80 in 5 . Zachary Macaulay won the esteem and

a ll h affection of C ristian men . On January ‘ 1 2 1 802 : , , Joseph Benson says I dined with

Mr . Pearson of Golden Square , and after wards spent a n agreeable hour with him

. l and Mr Macaulay, ate Governor of Sierra

ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE I4 I

Leone , who seems a truly pious man . At ’ seven I preached at Grosvenor Chapel . Zachary Macaulay was one of the most devoted and unselﬁsh men of his genera tion . With an ineloquent tongue and

’

. taciturn features , he had a heart of gold

Despite the most bitter, scurrilous, and persistent attacks from the defenders of

’ slavery , he toiled on , refusing even his j ust share of honour and praise . The inscription on his tablet in West minster Abbey , which was written by Sir

J ames Stephen , describes him truly as one

Wh o ur in or successi e ear s d g f ty v y , Pa r ta kin g in th e coun sels a n d th e labour s hi ch ui e a our in Pr o i en ce W , g d d by f v g v d , Rescue r ica r o th e woes d Af f m , An d th e B r i ish E ir e r o th e ui t mp f m g lt , Of S a er a n d th e S a e Tr a e l v y l v d ,

Meek en ur e th e oi th e r i a ion an d th e ly d d t l , p v t , r e r oa ch p ,

Resign in g t o oth er s th e pr aise a n d th e r ewar d .

’ Sir Henry Taylor says that Wilberforce s gifts placed his name in the title-page

(as it were) of a great cause . But Mr . 1 4 2 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

Zachary Macaulay was the man who rose and took his pen in hand at four o ’clock in ’ - Viscoun the morning . His grand daughter, 1 06 tess Knutsford, who died in August , 9 , has painted a noble portrait in her Life a n d Letter s of Z a ch a r y Ma ca ulay The Liverpool merchants and those who were interested in the slave trade made ’ 1 2 a stout resistance , in 79 to Wilberforce s motion for its immediate abolition, and succeeded in carrying a plan for gradual abolition . It was stipulated that the trade 1 1 6 should cease entirely in 795 or 79 . The Opposition managed to delay the measure from year to year , and it was not till March 1 807 that Parliament resolved that the slave trade should come to an end on 1 1 808 J anuary . , — Granvill e Sharp ( 1 735 1 81 3) was the most picturesque member of the Clapham

Sect . He lived in the house in Church

Buildings , over the eastern archway . Sir J ames Stephen says that as long as Gran ville Sharp survived it was too soon to ’ proclaim that the age of chivalry was done .

1 44 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

and by his research into English law , emancipated for ever the negro who was ‘ resident on English soil, and in fact ’ banished slavery from Great Britain . That marked him out as the father of the ’ movement . He was Chairman of the Society for the Abolition of Slavery founded 1 8 in 7 7 , and as Bishop Porteus said The ﬁrst publication which drew the attention of the country to the horrors of the African ’ slave trade came from his pen . One of the most powerful advocates of emancipation and the abolition of the slave trade was James Stephen , who had

practised as a barrister in the West Indies,

where he had inﬂuential relatives at St . ’ Christopher s . He says that he was led by an acquaintance accidentally formed to sail in a vessel which touched at Barbados 1 8 in December 7 3 , where he was present at the trial of four negroes on a charge of murder . The way they were treated opened his eyes to the horrors of slavery . He got to know Wilberforce , when he visited 1 88 1 e England in 7 , and in 794 resign d ABOLITION O F THE SLAVE TRADE 1 4 5

t his posi ion at the West Indian Bar , which his views on the slave question had made intolerable . His experience and legal train ing made him an inval uable ally in the great crusade . He even ventured frankly and kindly to reprove Wilberforce in 1 798 ‘ for not pleadi ng the cause of the slaves th e watchfully enough , and guarding it in ’ ’

r O osa ls. case of Trinidad , and Spain s late p p When Wilberforce hesitated to attack ai cert n proposals of the Government , this zealous friend did not hesita te to tell him ‘ ’ 1 he had been improperly silent . In 800 Mr . Stephen , who was a widower , married ’ Wilberforce s only sister , the widow of l Dr . Clarke , Vicar of Holy Trinity , Hu l . About 1 807 he accepted a seat in Parliament f o fered him by his old and intimate friend ,

Mr . Perceval . He originated the Orders ’ hi in Council , w ch , Lady Knutsford says , hi s made name j ustly famous , and contri buted during th e next few years to under mine the power of Napoleon in almost an

’ equal degree with the force of our arms . wa Mr . Stephen s a man of great natur al 1 4 6 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

ﬂi hi gifts , of un nc ng courage and force of ‘ 1 8 2 character . He died at Bath in 3 , almost n in the prese ce of Wilberforce , who only ’ survived his old friend by a few months . The Bill for the Abolition of the Slave 2 1 80 Trade was carried on February 3 , 7, ' 2 8 1 6 by 3 votes to , and sent to the House of Lords on March 1 8 . Wilberforce wrote Never surely had I more cause for grati tude than now, when carrying the great obj ect of my life , to which a gracious Providence di rected my thoughts twenty

- six or twenty seven years ago, and led my endeavours in 1 787 or The House of

Commons was enthusiastic . When Sir Samuel Romilly entreated the young mem bers to let the day ’ s event be a lesson to them , how much the rewards of virtue exceeded those of ambition, and contrasted the feelings of the Emperor of the French ‘ in all his greatness with those of that honourable individual, who would this day lay his head upon his pillow and remember ’ that the slave trade was no more , the whole House , surprised into a forgetfulness

1 4 8 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

t li i 1 8 a cost of wenty mil ons sterl ng in 33 , Thomas Fow ell B uxton wrote to Zachary Macaulay : Surely you have reason to rej oice . My sober and deliberate Opinion is that you have done more towards this t consumma ion than any other man . For myself, I take pleasure in acknowledging that you have been my tutor all the way through , and that I could have done ’ nothing without you . 1 8 1 Mrs . Macaulay died in 3 , and her 8 8 1 1 . husband on May 3 , 3 Sir J ames Stephen wrote to Miss Fanny Macaulay I know not how to grieve for the loss of your father , though it removes from this world one of the oldest , and assuredly one of the most excellent friends I have ever had . What rational man would not leap for j oy at the offer of bearing all his burdens, severe as they were , if he could be assured of the same approving conscience, and of the same blessed reward He was al most the last survivor of a noble brotherhood now reunited in affection and in employ ment . Mr . Wilberforce , Henry Thornton , ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE 1 4 9

Babington , my father, and other not less dear, though less conspicuous , companions of his many labours , have ere now greeted him as their associate in the world of spirits ; and, above all , he has been wel R comed by his edeemer wi”th Well done , good and faithful servant . Methodism had a vital share in that work for the slaves which lay so near to the heart of Wilberforce and his helpers .

1 86 . Dr . Coke ﬁrst visited Antigua in 7 He found there a large Methodist congre ga tion of negroes under the care of J ohn al hi Baxter , a nav s pwright and local preacher . From that time the work grew dl rapi y . One of the most useful and popul ar preachers was a slave called Black im Harry , who was publicly whipped,

prisoned , and banished from St Eustatius for the crime of praying with his coloured

brethren . Coke came to England for mis sion a r ies and collected funds for the work

from door to door . Persecution soon arose W from the planters and hite people , who O were living in a state of pen immorality . 1 5 0 A SE CT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

One of the Methodist missionaries, J ohn

Stephenson , was thrown into prison for preaching in J amaica . Similar outrages were committed on Methodist missionaries in other places . A law was passed in Jamai ca forbiddi ng any Methodist mis sion a r y or other sectary to instruct slaves , or receive them into their houses , chapels , ’ or conventicles of any sort . This was rescinded on the appeal of Dr . Coke and the Missionary Committee to the Home

Government . All this brought Methodism into close touch with the Clapham Sect . It furnished material for t he appeals of Wilberforce and his friends to Parliament and to the country , and enlisted all the forces of a growing church on the side of liberty . In 1 79 1 Wilberforce appea led formally to the Methodist Conference for assistance in his crusade , and obtained a promise of

v all that he wanted . He had pre iously sent a printed letter and a copy of the evi dence given before his Select Committee to di every Metho st preacher .

1 5 2 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

directed ‘ to promote the moral and religious improvement of the slaves, without in the least degree , in public or in private , t ’ interfering with their civil condi ion . The slaves were trained to be patient and faithful without being taught to expect freedom . The transformation wrought in Jamaica by the ministry of faithful Methodist mis sion a r i es was wonderful . The savage orgies in which the blacks delighted were aban doued . Methodist hymns took the place ni a of negro songs . The Sunday car v ls, with their riots and obscene processions, became a thi ng of the past Sunday markets were abolished ; the whole population ’ streamed to worship . Misrepresentation and calumny were heaped on the mission

- aries by the slave holding party , but i Richard Watson, the Method st Missionary

Secretary, defended them in a powerful pamphl et whi ch was extensively read by the public men of the day . William

Wilberforce greatly appreciated it . It helped to Open the eyes of Englishmen to

1 5 6 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

the congregations knelt in silent prayer,

then , as the hour of freedom struck , free men poured out their souls in the doxology

Pr a ise God r o wh o al l essin s ﬂow , f m m bl g .

Friends and relatives fondly embraced each other , and returned home thanking God that they had lived to see the day of ’ liberty . CHAPTER V

THE CHURCHMISSIONARY SOGIETY AND THE B IB LE SOCIETY W t h e e e of t h e n s r a t on e er en a or ith b li f i pi i , wh th pl ry ar al of th e c u es wh o ca n econ c e a s e e of p ti , S ript r , r il di b li f t h e momen tous results with whi ch th e m ere kn owledge of th em by ma n kin d a t la rge mu st b e a tt en ded ? Wh o wil l presume t o estima te th e —workin gs of su ch a n elemen t of thought in such a wor ld or t o follow out t h e movemen ts res ultin g fr om such a voice when ra ised i n every t on gu e a n d a on a l l eo e i n o os t on t o th e e c a o r o m g p pl , pp i i rud l m ur f m W o or t h e s ar s e sson a n ce r o n P—o r ith ut , till h h r di f m withi w h o will ta ke on him t o m ea sure th e con sequ en ces of ex h ib iti n g a mon gst a ll th e tr ibes of m en on e immut a ble sta n da rd of tr on e e e n a r l e of on e s o ess o e for uth , t r l u duty , p tl m d l imita tion M SIR A ES TEPHEN Th e Cla h a m Sect . J S , p

1 60 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

course of twenty years , during whichwe have

possessed extensive territories here , there should have been no public institution for

carrying on such work , must doubtless have ’ been matter of regret to many . Mr . Grant was ready to support a mission if it ’ were on principles entirely catholic . He warned Coke that any mission to India

must have ample resources , so that it might not leave its converts who had suffered the loss of all things by becoming Christians

to perish for want, or be killed by their

en kinsmen . Methodism was too much grossed with its work in the West Indi es and in other places to undertake a mission in 1 80 to the East but 5 , when the proj ect

was taking more deﬁnite shape , Coke

visited Mr . Grant , then Chairman of the

Directors of the East India Company, and was persuaded that though the Company would not consent to a mission for the

conversion of the Hindus , it would not prosecute those who might establish such 1 81 a mission . It was not till the end of 3 that Coke was able to sail for the East ND H THE M . A C . S T E . BIBLE SOCIETY 1 61

with a band of Methodist missionaries . Mr .

1 0 Grant entered Parliament in 8 2 . In 1 793 Wilberforce got a resolution passed in the House of Commons that it was the duty of the legislature to adopt such measures as might tend to the a d vancement of the British Dominions in Indi a in useful knowledge and religious and

’ r e moral improvement , and that proper li gious provision should be made for the ’ i Company s servants . He tr ed to get a clause inserted in the East India Company ’ s charter sanctioning missionary effort in

India , but failed . Successful opposition was made , and from that time missionaries were j ealously excluded . But Wilberforce did not lose heart . In November 1 797 he dined and Slept

n at Battersea Rise for missio ary meeting . o Sime n , Charles Grant , Venn . Something, ’ but not much , done . Simeon in earnest . At the Eclectic Society, founded by a few clergymen and laymen for the discussion 1 8 1 of living questions, on March , 799 , John Venn spoke on the question What 1 62 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD methods can we use more effectually to promote the knowledge of the gospel among the heathen He laid down thr ee prin ’ ci les : 1 di p ( ) follow God s lea ng , and look for success only from the Spirit (2) under

God, all will depend on the type of men sent forth . A missionary Should have

hi s heaven in heart , and tread the world

under his feet . And such men only God ’ can raise up ; (3) begin on a small scale .

Mr . Venn deprecated starting with appeals

for money . Each member was to admonish hi s people to promote missions , pray con st a n tl y for guidance , study and inquire as

to future plans, speak to Christian friends

on the subj ect . The Society was to be ‘ founded on the Church principle , not the High- Church principle and if clergym en

could not be found, laymen were to be sent 1 2 out . Mr . Grant was present . On April , 1 799 , Venn presided over the meeting at

which the C . M . S . was founded, at the Castle

and Falcon , Aldersgate Street . Wilber

force , Grant , and Samuel Thornton became

- vice presidents, Henry Thornton was chosen

1 64 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

hoping for nothing but the promotion of

the kingdom of Christ , and glorying in

nothing but in the cross of Christ , by which he is cruciﬁed to the world and the world ’ di 1 1 81 to him . Venn ed on July , 3 , but ,

as we shall see , his mantle fell on his son

Henry, who was the moving spirit of the i Church Missionary Society for th rty years . For a long time all inquiries for mission

aries were fruitless . Henry Martyn was the ﬁrst Englishman who offered hi s ser

a i vices . He was famil ar ﬁgure at Clapham . It is said that he came especially before the people of Clapham because Mr . Grant ’ had brought him on to the Common . Family losses and responsibilities made it impossible for him to take the bare allow ance of a missionary ; and beside this, it f would have been di ﬁcult even for Mr . Grant to obtain leave for his sai ling in an ’ East Indi a Company s Ship with the direct ’ obj ect of preaching to the heathen . He was therefore appointed one of the East

’ Indi a Company s chaplains , and sailed for

1 80 . India in 5 The Committee hoped, THE M s . AND TH 1 6 C . . E BIBLE SOCIETY 5

’ after ﬁve years prayer and conference , the appointment might lead to considerable ’ inﬂuence among the heathen . The Society

turned to Germany . Two students of a missionary seminary in Berlin were a o ’ ce t ed p as missionary catechists , and were sent to lodge at Clapham at the end of 1 80 2 in order to learn a little English before they w sailed . Peter Hart ig evidently made i good use of his t me , for he married Sarah ’ Windsor, who was governess in John Venn s family . His education in English was thus arranged for l The accounts of the Society Show what was spent on the training of these students and on their passage to

ar Africa with Mrs . H twig . Hartwig turned

- Slave trader, and his wife had to leave him a nd return home . After several years he hi ’ came to mself, and his wife rej oined im m edi him in Africa, but he died almost ately, and she returned to England . Three more men from Berlin were sent to South 1 806 Africa in , but no others were obtained 1 80 till July 9 . Zachary Macaulay had taken an active IO 1 66 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD part in the formation of the Religious Tract

Society, and was a member of its committee 1 800 in . A still nobler society was now to be

- started on its world wide course of blessing . 1 802 On December 7 , , when Thomas Charles of Bala made an appeal to the committee of the Reli gious Tract Society to assist in supplying the Scriptures in

Welsh, J oseph Hughes , the Secretary, who

was the Baptist minister in Battersea, spoke the memorable words!: Surely a

society might be formed for the purpose .

But if for Wales , why not for the kingdom Why not for the world ? ’ The proposal was received with enthusiasm and by the 1 80 beginning of 4 , Mr . Canton says , the promoters had secured the adhesion of such

distinguished men as William Wilberforce,

Granville Sharp , Charles Grant , Zachary

Macaulay, Lord Teignmouth, and Henry ’ Thornton . These were all residents at

1 80 . Clapham . On March 7 , 4 , Mr Granville Sharp presided at the meeting at which the British and Foreign Bible Society

was founded . Mr . Henry Thornton was

1 68 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WO RLD

knowledge as a member of the Provincial il a Counc at Calcutta . W rren Hastings w c z an d e armly re ogni ed his ability ﬁd lity . They returned to En gla nd together in ’

1 8 . e June 7 5 Shore s fri nds were few, and — he had only one relati ve a brother who

’ c n Pr a had re e tly married W . Mackworth ed s ’ daughter and was staying at h er father s

house near Exeter . The lonely Indian ofﬁcial wen t down to Devonshire un ex

ect p edly . His brother and his wife were

from home , but a young lady of great

r ee a personal att actions, who had b n det ined at the house by a snowstorm, received him ‘ h i ’ . In t e r ﬁrst interview Shore s a ffections became so much engaged that he sought fresh Opportunities of cultivating ’ a a her acqu int nce . She was the only

Mr s r . daughte of a widow , Cornish, whose husband had been collector of customs at a e Tei gn mouth . Shore m rri d Miss Charlotte

1 86 - i r a 1 . Corn sh on Feb u ry 4 , 7 Forty two yea r s later he told his son , I could very conscientiously Claim the ﬂit ch of bacon I OCI T 1 6 THE C M. S . AND r HE . B BLE S E Y 9

H wa li ot Vi r of n i on . e the Ed rd E , as c oy I d a,

or Mr . k oss le r n . p ib , he tu ed to Sh e Bur e w as in a r ms a gain st t h e appoi n tm ent of

e m er 1 1 2 i er r a On S pte b 5 , 79 , W lb fo ce s ys ’ Mr a t e sua si e n e At . Gr n s p r on r tur d to Cla ph a m for the pur pose of seein g Sh or e

sa w a ood dea l of Sir ohn a n d w a s g j , ‘ ’ lea wit h him He tell us t h a t much p sed . s

t was so s rong that Pitt in duced Mr . Charles Grant to visit him and urge him to make

ul d service he co render . Mr w a e . as . Shore was crea ted a b ron t He Vi 1 An ceroy from 793 to 1 798 . entr y in

a : t he took up his gr e t ofﬁce Gran , I 1 70 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

beseech Thee , that I may on all occasions regulate my conduct by the rules and pre ce t s p of Thy Word and that in all doubts, dangers , and embarrassments, I may always have grace to apply to Thee for support and assistance . Grant that under my government, religion and morality may ’ be advanced . He does not rank among the great rulers of Indi a, but no more pure or more upright man ever occupied that proud position . Sir James Stephen speaks of hi s rule as barren and temporizing and ’ timid . It must be added, however , that ‘ he faithfully obeyed hi s instructions . hi m ’ Nothing more could be expected of . When his successor was appointed Sir

r e John was raised to the peerage , and 1 802 tired to Clapham in August , in order

to be near the Grants, Wilberforce , and i Thornton . He l ved in old John Thorn ’ ton s house , which he had taken from

MP. Samuel Thornton , . , who removed to at Albury Park . It had a small estate

- t a ch ed . , and a farm of twenty two acres

1 Di ctiona r y of Na tiom l ﬁ i ogr a phy .

1 7 2 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

’ hi s came to father s house at Clapham . A celebrated Mohawk chief spent some

h e ' weeks under this hospitable roof, while ’ was translating St . Matthew s Gospel into

the language of his people . He used to delight the young folk of the family by

performing his war dance . When Napoleon formed his military

1 80 camp at Boulogne in 3 , England was Tei ﬁlled with patriotic fervour . Lord gn mouth undertook the Lieutenancy of

Surrey . His son remembered Zachary Macaulay marching at the head of a com pany of Clapham volunteers with a bear

- skin covered helmet , and Charles and ’ Robert Grant as extemporized dragoons . In 1 807 Lord Teignmouth let his house al for some months to Mr . Percev , then

Chancellor of the Exchequer . He spent the summer and autumn with his family

at Broadstairs . They returned to Clapham 2 1 808 in December , but on July 3 , , moved to al Portman Square . They had taken speci interest in a large di strict in the vicinity of their house at Clapham , and continued THE M H 1 S . T E C . . AND BIBLE SOCIETY 73

to visit it after their removal to London . Wh en they left Clapham the sorrow ex pressed by the multitude oi persons who

covered the lawn in the front of the house , and crowded along the roadside to bid them

a ffec farewell , bore feeling testimony to the tion and gratitude with which they had ’ been regarded . Lord Teignmouth felt that it would be hard to ﬁnd such a pastor as John Venn in his new neighbourhood . He tells Wilber force : I certainly feel more than I can express at quitting a place where I enj oyed a ll hi f the comforts t s world can a ford , ’ during seven years . Sir James Stephen says : There was blended in Lord Teign m outh as much of r the Spi it of the world , and as much of the ul Spirit of that sacred volume , as co d com ’ ni ‘ F bine harmo ously with each other . or many years he spent thr ee hours a day in private prayer . He used to retire for this pur pose at ﬁve in order that he might not be too weary for his devotions . On the last Sunday of his life he said to hi s wife and 1 74 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD children : I feel that I am resting upon the right foundation , and I can now leave ’ you all rej oicing . He died at his house , 1 1 8 4 Portman Square , on February 4 , 34 , and was buried in Marylebone parish church, where a monument is erected to his memory . It describes him as President

of the British and Foreign Bible Society ,

from its foundation to his death , a period

of , thirty years , and formerly Governor ’ General of India . His wife died four

months after him .

The two elder sons of John Thornton , who divided hi s estate on the south Side of the Common between them , were Robert M P . Thornton , for Colchester, and Samuel

MP . Thornton , for Surrey and Governor of

the Bank of England . Samuel Thornton entertained Pitt and most of his Cabinet 1 800 at dinner at Clapham in . The ban quet was given in the summer- house of

his brother Robert , which was ﬁtted up

for the occasion . It is still to be seen

in the grounds of the Catholic nunnery . Robert Thornton lived next door to his

1 76 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

hi s of graver look of doubt or dissent ,

mingled itself insensibly, not merely with m y larger pursuits, my plans and schemes

in life , but with almost all I wrote or

did . What will Henry Thornton say was with me a trying question on all occa ’ : e sions . He adds I have b en pleasing myself with ﬁguring to my mind our dear friend Venn welcoming his former asso ciate in the heavenly course to a partici pation of the j oys with a foretaste of which ’ they had been blessed on earth . i Mrs . Thornton also d ed of consumption

at Brighton in the following October .

Zachary Macaulay visited her there , and f arranged all her a fairs . He and her

brother, Damel Sykes , were her executors , Charles and Robert Grant were the guar

dians of her sons, Mr . and Mrs . Robert l Inglis of her daughters . Wi berforce stood

- by her death bed . The body was brought 1 8 to Battersea Rise on October , and next day laid beside that of her husband . Zachary Macaulay wrote It is impossible to imagine a death more truly consolatory

1 80 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

hi s of damping the wings of imagination , It seems to have lent them new elasticity . was the expansion and elevation of a spirit freed from its corporeal trammels and mundane feelings ; and while it exulted

itself in the goodness of God, and in the

’ O pening prospects of the Saviour s king

dom , communicated to every other spirit a sym pathetic ﬂow of spiritual affection

! and heavenly aspiration . His very coun t en a n ce seemed irradiated with the light

of heaven , and his voice spoke in every tone

’ its accents .

1 8 0 Wilberforce visited Clapham in 3 . He says : We are spending a little time at

this to me deeply interesting place . I —H T . . always visit the funeral urn , Jan 6 1 81 T 1 . . . 1 2 uary , 5 M , October ,

Some other names deserve mention . M P . William Smith , for Norwich , the

grandfather of Florence Nightingale, lived at Clapham in the ﬁrst years of the nine t een th w century, and was very intimate ith U Zachary Macaulay . He was a nitarian

and a strong abolitionist . He lived as THE M S AND THE 1 81 C . . . BIBLE SOCIETY if to show how much of the coarser duties of this busy world may be undertaken by im a man of quick sensibility , without pairing the ﬁner sense oi the beautiful in nature and in art and as if to prove how much a man of ardent benevolence may ’ W enj oy of this world s happiness , ithout any steeling of the heart to the wants and ’ calamities of others . A worker not less noble than Wilberforce ai and Thornton cl ms a passing word . At

Maisonette , near Battersea Rise , lived Sir

James Mackintosh , the j urist and philo Sopher who secured the abolition of capital punishment for such offences as sheep

stealing and forgery . Wilberforce visited 1 8 0 him here in 3 , and says , He is at ’ hi s everybody s service , and conversation ’ is always rich and sparkling .

A man of another type , Henry Caven ’ dish , the Newton of chemistry , lived on

the south side of the Common , where he buried himself from the world to pursue his researches into the composition of water h and the density of t e earth . He is de 1 82 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

scribed as the man who weighed the ’ world .

1 81 0 He died at Cavendish House in , leaving a million of money to be divided

among his relatives . The man who had lying to his credit at his banker ’s and thre atened to remove the account if he was disturbed about so small a

matter , is not the least interesting

ﬁgure of Clapham Common . He had

an immense library , and his house was ﬁlled with all manner of scientiﬁc in st r u

ments . His housekeeper once reminded i him that ﬁve friends were coming to d nner ,

and one leg of mutton woul d not be enough . ’ th e Well , then , have two , was answer . The abolition of the slave trade was the

peculi ar glory of the Clapham Sect . Thomas Clarkson had rendered yeoman service to

th e . cause , and many had helped nobly

But , making every allowance for the ser

v ices which others rendered , it must still e hi s b admitted that Wilberforce, aided by Clapham friends Thornton and Macaulay and Stephen, was the real mainspring of

CHAPTER VI

THE INHERITORS OF THE GREAT TRADITION How d o I feel more tha n r equi ted for a ll th e pa in s I h ave ’ a en a n d t h e a e s a e oﬁ er ed en I ea o t k , pr y r I h v , wh r d y ur ea rn est desires tha t y ou m a y glorify God ! Supern a tura l i s t a es e i s th e a n d t h e osso c n h t d ir ; it bud bl m , whi h bri g or a l l th e r th e C c of G od ea s T s s e e f th f uit hur h b r . hi upr m esir e t o o G od is e a en c e i n a a n t d gl rify lik fri dly lu l byri h , c es us out of a ll e ex t es a n d ex c es a n ea n es whi h guid p rpl i i , it r t cr c i n t e n s us t o th e en o en of our G od y , whi h , im , bri g j ym t a n d a o es us n c eas n ews of His ex ce l en c a n d S vi ur , giv i r i g vi l y o a n d en s us f or th e ast asse of e ec s ri ts gl ry , rip v mbly p rf t pi , wh o a r e s a o e in o e a n d a o a on of G od a n d a r e w ll w d up l v d r ti , e ec l on e t ea c ot e p rf t y wi h h h r . HENR ENN Y t o on e of h is c i en 1 8 . V h ldr , 7 5

1 88 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

One looks on those lovely families with pride and thankfulness . In the parish

C hurch of Clapham a century ago , Wilber forces, Thorntons , Macaulays , Stephens sat in adj acent pews the Teign m out h s had a

C seat in the front gallery . One of the hil dren who sat there , Sir James Stephen , bears witness that the religion taught in the homes of the Clapham Sect was a hardy ,

- r e serviceable , fruit bearing , patrimonial ’ ligion . There was no one in that band of workers for the uplifting of the world who was not most keenly solicitous for the C Spiritual good of his own hildren , and would not have felt that fai lure to lead them in the right way would have been dearly bought at the cost of success of any other kind . 1 81 After the death of J ohn Venn , in 3 , the parish was fortunate enough to secure

Dea lt r . Dr . y as his successor He had been 1 6 Second Wrangler in 79 , and was Fellow and Tutor of Trinity College . He was a man of generous instincts, and deserves special recognition as one of the earliest friends of Henry Kirke White . INHERITORS O F THE GREAT TRADITION 1 89

He was doing duty at Clapham at the ’ time of Mr . Venn s death , and young and

old cried out for his appointment . He was

a singularly persuasive preacher . A lady of Clapham described him as the ugly i ’ l ttle brown bird who sang so sweetly . No man was better ﬁtted to enlist the sym pathy and guide the lives of the rising youth

of Clapham House . He held the rectory 1 8 till his death in 4 7 , at the age of seventy

. in two J ohn Thornton; Jun . , wrote the

scription on his tablet in the parish church,

and the Rev . A . R . Pennington , sometime

U : wit Rector of tterby , says I can bear ’ ness to the truth of every word of it . The pulpit at Clapham was worthy of its f o ﬁce , and it was nobly supported by the home life of the best families around the

Common . The mode of education among them was simple , without being severe .

In the spacious gardens , and the com m odious houses of an archi tecture already i dating a century back , wh ch surrounded the Common , there was plenty of free o s dom and good fell w hip, and reasonable, 1 90 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

enj oyment for young and old alike . There can have been nothing that was vulgar , and hi little that was narrow, in a training w ch produced Samuel Wilberforce , Sir James

Stephen , Charles and Robert Grant , and hi Lord Macaulay . The plan on w ch chil dren were brought up in the chosen home of the Low Church party during its golden age will bear comparison with systems about which in their day the world was supposed never to tire of hearing , although their ultimate results have been small ’ indeed .

Mr . G . W . E . Russell , who was brought up among the spiritual descendants of the men and women who constituted the Clap

’ ham Sect , and attended Henry Drummond s ’ Prophetical Conferences at Albury , gives a beautiful account of Evangelical train 1 ing in the home First the Chi ldren were taught the gospel plan of salvation , and shown that conversion was the acceptance f of the o fer of salvation . They were in structed in the Bible from their earliest

H e d h — s ho o a it . 2 . The ou l f F , pp 39 4 4

1 92 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

An aunt of mine , bursting into unlooked

for melody , wrote for the beneﬁt of her young relations

Would youlik e t o b e told th e best use of a pen n y ? I ca n tell you a use wh ich is b etter th a n a n y Not on o s n or on r ui n or on swee ea s t o t y , f t , tm t S en it p d , But o er th e seas to th e h ea h e to sen it v t n d .

Mr . Russell adds , The constructive part w of my early teaching has al ays been , and

- is , the bed rock of my religious life ; but as time wen t on the negative dialectics ’ seemed to wear a little thin . The children of these homes were taught not less by example than by precept . They saw those whom they loved and honoured spendi ng their strength for the poor and oppressed . The homes of Wilberforce and

Zachary Macaulay were temples of industry . ’ It is easy , says Sir G . O . Trevelyan , to trace whence the great bishop and the great wri ter derived their immense industry . Working came as naturally as walk ing to sons who could not remember a time when ’ their fathers idled . Mr . Wilberforce and INHERITORS OF THE GREAT TRADITION 1 93

Mr . Babington have never appeared down stairs lately, except to take a hasty dinner , and for half an hour after we have supped . The slave trade now occupies them n ine hours daily . They talk of sitting up one e ’ 1 night in every week to do th ir work . No toiler in all the company was more indefatigable than Zachary Macaulay . ‘ That God had called him into being to wage war with this gigantic evil [of the slave trade] became his immutable con v i tion c . During forty successive years he was ever burdened with the thought . In that service he sacriﬁced all that a man

sa cr iﬁce— may lawfully health, fortune , re pose , favour , celebrity . The two sandy- hai red Grants sat with their father in the pew before the Pen n in t on s g in Clapham Parish Church . In 1 80 1 , when Henry Martyn was Senior i Wrangler , Charles Grant was F rst Classi l t cal Medal is and Fourth Wrangler , and his brother Robert was Second Classical

1 Li e o Ma a . f f ca ul y i 64 .

Ibi d . p . 6 5 . 1 94 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

Medallist and Third Wrangler . Charles Grant became Secretary for Ireland and

Secretary for the Colonies, and was made

n a peer . His title Gle elg spells exactly the same both ways, so that he was known r ’ as Lo d Backwards and Forwards . Lack of energy robbed him of the great position hi m that seemed opening before , but he

was a graceful and eloquent speaker . The younger brother is better known to this generation . 1 820 At the Bible Society meeting in , Zachary Macaulay says : Robert Grant made one of his powerful displays . It was even sublime in some parts, but it was too ethereal for common minds , and it also came too late in the day . Brilliant as he was, some brutal persons at the extremity of the room became impatient, and he was actually coughed down . It ut was most provoking , b what human enj oyment is without its alloy ? It was a mi stake to c al l up one who had so much

- to say , and could say it so well, at half past u ’ fo r o clock , when the meeting was ex

I NHERITORS OF THE GREAT TM DITION 1 97

a hansted partly by excitement , and p rtly by having been many of them shut up in ’ the hall for seven or eight hours . Robert Grant became Governor of Bom

hi s bay , but chief title to remembrance is his hymns , Saviour, when in dust to Thee When gathering clouds around I 0 view, worship the King , all glorious ’ above , which are still dear to every section of the Christian Church .

Samuel Wilberforce , the third son of

William Wilberforce , was born at Broom

1 80 fir st -floor field on September 7 , 5 , in a room with bow windows which looked to the north . His father took a vigilant interest in his training . Some six hundred of his letters to Samuel still remain . Canon Ashwell says : Nascent faults carefully marked and checked , personal habits of upright conduct strenuously enforced , shrewd practical counsels as to social duties and conduct toward hi s equals constantly suggested, and all these strung upon the one thread of private prayer as

- the only hold fast of life . These remarkable 1 98 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

letters exhibit the inﬂuence which formed that solid substratum of character which underlay the brilliant gifts and the striking ’ career of Samuel Wilberforce . His father trained him to speak freely without notes on a subject with which he had made

himself well acquainted, and to trust to the inspiration of the moment for

suitable words . To this he largely owed

his facility of speech . Wilberforce became the most popular speaker and preacher in

the Church of England . Dean Burgon says

that as a public man , Samuel Wilberforce , f o by the general su frage of English S ciety , ’ was without a peer . His faults were ’ patent . He was too facile , and was sometimes betrayed into unwise and ill

j udged words and actions . He had little

of the saving grace of caution , but , what

ever his faults , he was true to the teaching

of the Clapham Sect . He was a noble

evangelical preacher . Thomas Babington Macaulay eclipses all his Clapham contemporaries by the lustre

of hi s gifts as orator and historian . He was

200 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

l to smal , was little Tom Macaulay a region of inexhaustible romance and mys t er y . He explored its recesses ; he com posed , and almost believed, its legends ; he invented for its different features a nomenclature which has been faithfully preserved by two generations of children . A slight ridge intersected by deep ditches towards the west of the Common, the very existence of which no one above eigh t years old would notice , was digniﬁed with the title of the Alps ; while the elevated island , covered with shrubs , that gives a name to the Mount pool , was regarded with inﬁnite awe as being the nearest approach within the circuit of his observation to a conception of the maj esty of Sinai . In deed a t this period his infant fancy was much exercised with the threats and terrors of the Law . He had a little plot of ground at the back of the house , marked out as his own by a row of oyster- sh ells which a maid one day threw away as rubbish .

ai - He went str ght to the drawing room , where his mother was enter taining INHERITORS OF THE GREAT TRADITION 201

some visitors , walked into the circle , and said very solemnly : Cursed be Sally ; r e for it is written , Cursed is he that ’ ’ hi s - moveth neighbour s land mark . A more simple and natural Child never ’ lived, or a more lively and merry one . As a small child he went reluctantly to l the school kept by Wi liam Greaves , the master who had been brought to

Clapham to train the West African children . i When the cl mate proved fatal to them , the chi ldren of the residents round the

Common were sent to the school . o The sec nd Lord Teignmouth, born at 1 6 Calcutta in 79 , was the ﬁrst Clapham scholar sent to Mr . Greaves . There were then about six negro youths of good 1 family, older than myself and very good ’ th e natured . For the ﬁrst month , till

Wilberforces , Stephens , Thorntons , and

others came , he studied with the black

boys . On one occasion they showed that they had not unlearnt their native super stition s ; for on a black dog belonging to

1 Remi n i sce ces o Ma n ea r s 1 8 8 . n f y Y , 7 1 2 202 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

. e Mr Greaves uttering a p culiar bark , o they rushed in a b dy down to the kitchen, from whence it was no easy task to dislodge ’ them . Two of the black boys remained for some time in the school .

- Greaves was a portly, good natured man .

Some years after he had given up tuition , several ofusin v it ed ourselvesto dine with him under the old roof as a spontaneous token i him ’ of our feelings, which much grat ﬁed .

Besides Macaulay, Samuel Wilberforce and the future Bishop Perry of Melbourne

were pupils here . Greaves was a shrewd r w Yorkshi eman ith a turn for science . The schoolroom was a good- sized - apartment on

the ﬁrst ﬂoor , lofty and with an arched

ceiling . The cupboards where the scholars ai ul kept their books still rem n . Maca ay ’ had his best teachers in his father s library . Long afterwar ds he speaks of a tr an sl a di tion of some Spanish come es, one of the very few bright specks in our very sull en ’ library at Clapham . His mother wrote in September 1 808 : My dear Tom con

tinnes to show marks of uncommon genius .

204 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORL D

e hi s temp r, unfailing ﬂow of spirits , his

amusing talk, all made his presence delight t ful , so tha his wishes and his tastes were

our law . He hated strangers , and his notion of perfect happiness was to see us a ll worki ng round him while he read aloud t a novel, and then to walk all toge her on h the Common , or , if it rained, to ave a ’ i - - frightfully noisy game of h de and seek . Macaulay ’s bedroom was the front room

of the top story , on the side nearest

hi s London . There he made ﬁrst venture in literature by preparing the index to the thirteenth volume of the Ch r i sti a n Obser ver 1 81 during his Christmas holiday of 4 . One local personage of those days left an abiding impression on the mind of Lord

Macaul ay and his sisters . She was a Baptist schoolm‘ istress who lived close to ‘ Clapham Town . The house , with its charm ing grounds, has recently been incorporated with the block of convent schools and other monastic buil di ngs which occupy a large ’ area on the western side of the Common . Zachary Macaulay says she is rather in INHERITORS OF THE GREAT TRADITION 205

high esteem among our religious folks at

Clapham , who are moved by her active benevolence to recede a little from their ’ accustomed antipathy to Dissenters . She invited a Church of England charity school to a feast with her own school one di year and gave them plain pud ng, whilst

C her own hildren had beef and plum pudding .

b - -b She grew more generous y and y , for when Zachary Macaul ay went to the feast 1 on June 4 , 799, he says , She avoided this ’ fault yesterday, however . Lord Macaulay remembered the horror with which he and his sisters watched the schoolmistress knit tin g a t her window when they came out of church on Christmas morning . Her dinner that day was roast veal and apple pie instead of the customary beef and plum puddi ng . From Clapham Macaulay went as a pupil to the Rev . Mr . Preston , at Little Shel ford, near Cambridge . He tells his father that he is classed with Wilberforce , the eldest son , whom all the boys allow to be ’ very clever , very droll, and very impudent . The boys had j ust started a debating 206 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

ns society . A vote of ce ure was moved i for upon Wilberforce , but he, gett ng up, ai s d, Mr . President, I beg to second the ’ motion By this means he escaped .

Mrs . Macaulay wrote to her boy from 2 8 Clapham , May

‘ MY TO M —I DEAR , am very happy to hear th a t you have so far advanced in your

ff r di erent p ize exercises , and with such little

n fatigue . I k ow you write with great ease r to yourself, and would rather w ite ten poems than prune one but remember that

ll ai r exce ence is not obt ned at ﬁ st . All your pieces are much mended aft er a little

reﬂection , and therefore take some solitary

al hi hi . w ks , and t nk over each separate t ng Spare no time or trouble to make each piece e th e as perf ct as you can , and then leave

event without one anxious thought . I have al ways admired a saying of one of the ri old heathen philosophers . When a f end was condoling with him that he deserved

so well of the gods , and yet that they did i him not shower the r favours on , as on

208 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

And this is the substance of all my prayers for you . In less than a month you and I shall, I trust , be rambling over the Common, which now looks quite beautiful .

I am ever , my dear Tom ,

Your affectionate mother, U ’ SELINA MACA LAY .

Zachary Macaulay tried to lead his children to that loving care for others hi s . 1 81 which was own glory In 4 , when the schoolboy complained of the people of

Shelford, his father reminded him that the best ‘ thing which he and his schoolfellows could do would be to try to reform them . You can buy and distribute useful and striking tracts , as well as Testaments , C Re among such as can read . The heap posit or y and Religious Tract Society will furnish tracts suited to al l descriptions of persons and for those who cannot read why should you not Institute a Sunday school to be taught by yourselves , and in which, appropriate rewards being given for INHERITORS O F THE GREAT TRADITION 20 9

o nl g od behaviour , not o y at school but f throughout the week , great e fects of a ’ moral kind might soon be produced . The family moved to Cadogan Place in 1 81 8 i , where they set up a larger establ sh e m nt . Zachary Macaulay believed him

self to be worth a hundred thousand pounds . In 1 823 ﬁnancial circumstances had become 0 threatening , and they removed to 5 Great

Ormond Street .

Macaulay went up to Trinity College ,

1 81 8 . Cambridge , in October Of all his places of soj ourn during his j oyous and

r shining pilgrimage th ough the world ,

Trinity, and Trinity alone , had any share with his home in Macaulay ’ s affection and ’ loyalty . Mr . H . S . Thornton was his banker , and , says Macaulay, had as sound a j udge ment in money matters as I ever met with . You might have safely followed him blind ’ fold . In June 1 824 Macaulay spoke at a

- meeting of the Anti Slavery Society, over which the Duke of Gloucester presided ’ Edin bur h at Freemasons Tavern . The g 2 1 0 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

Revi ew says it was a display of eloquence so signal for rare and matured excellence that the most practised orator may well admire how it should have come from one who then for the ﬁrst time addressed a i ’ publ c assembly . Sir G . O . Trevelyan says : That w a s probably the happiest ’ ’ - half hour of Zachary Macaulay s life . He sat with his eyes ﬁxed on a piece of paper, and only referred to the Speech that evening to say that it was ungraceful in so young a man to speak with folded arms in the ‘ : presence of royalty . Wilberforce said My friend would doubtless willingly bear with th e all the base falsehoods, all vile calum

t a r tiﬁces nies , all the detes able which have

been aimed against him , to render him the

martyr and victim of our cause , for the gratiﬁcation he has this day enj oyed in hearing one so dear to him plead such a ’ cause in such a manner .

Macaulay never ceased to love Clapham . When he revisited the old home in the High

Street, though he had not been in it for sixteen years he remembered the locks on

INHERITORS OF THE GREAT TRADITION 2 1 3

’ C the doors . He went over the hurch in “ 1 8 I February 4 9 , and said, love the ’ church for the sake of old times . 1 8 8 On July 5 , 5 , Macaulay writes

Motley called . I like him much . We agree wonderfully well about Slavery, and it is not often that I meet any person with t whom I agree on tha subj ect . For I hate slavery from the bottom of my soul and yet I am made sick by the cant and the silly mock reasons of the Abolitionists . The nigger-driver and the negrophile are ’ two odious things to me . The extraordinary success of his Hi stor y ’ of En gla n d was the crown of Macaulay s

reputation . He was made a baron in 8 1 8 . 2 5 7 He died suddenly on December , 1 8 t 5 9 , and was buried in Westmins er Abbey at the foot of Addison ’s statue ’ in Poet s Corner, with the proud words engraved on the slab

His o is ur ie in ea ce b dy b d p , f But h is n a me liveth or ever mor e.

After the death of Mr . and Mrs . Thornton, 2 1 4 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

Mr . R . Inglis and his wife came to Battersea

Rise and took charge of the nine orphans . We get some pleasant glimpses of them

in the letters of Zachary Macaulay . In J anuary 1 81 6 he says : The In glises are

very good, and very amiable , and very

well bred , and they have also very good

sense and a great deal of heart . They are i delighted w th their Charge and their

occupations, and seem thoroughly com

’ fortable . Two years later Mr . Macaulay describes them as the kindest people he ever knew . True kindness, gentleness, courtesy, everything that can ﬂow from genuine and undissembled Christian affection and Christian humility in union , distinguish ’ them in a very marked degree . Sir Hugh Inglis was Chairman of the 1 81 East Indi a Company in 3 . On his death in 1 82 0 his son Robert succeeded to 1 82 the baronetcy , and in 9 followed Peel U as member for Oxford niversity . He served in nine parliaments . In his day Battersea Rise was the resort of every man of note or genius, who either dwelt in

2 1 6 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

1 81 8 . , at the same time as T . B . Macaulay They shared the same lodgings in Jesus

Lane and read with the same tutor . But as Macaulay did not love mathematics and was always arguing about them , his friend found it necessary to br eak through this

ni arrangement . He got a Tri ty Scholarship

1 820 . with T . B . Macaulay in the spring of

He was Fourth Wrangler of his year , and on the advice of his uncle , Daniel Sykes, Esq . , M P . for Hull, gave up his prospect of a Trinity Fellowshi p to take his place as a banker in the City . After the crash of 1 825 he reconstituted the ﬁrm of Thornton Free and gradually built up a great reputation as head of the banking house

of Williams , Deacon Co . He died sud

d en l - y in his eighty second year , and on the day of his funeral all th e busmen b e tween the City and Clapham wore black rosettes as a tribute to one whose kindl y

greeting they had prized for many years . Marianne Thornton ’s extraordinary ten derness and fortitude at the time of her ’ ’ father s and mother s death in 1 8 1 5 made INHERITORS ' OF THE GREAT TRADITION 2 1 7

a profound impression on Zachary Macaulay, who says , Her character for sense and ’ piety rises higher as one knows her better .

Mr . G . W . E . Russell speaks of her as the truly venerable lady through whom I am myself linked to the earlier Evan ’ elica ls g , and to the Clapham Sect . She was the last survivor of the generation to which Lord Macaulay and Sir Robert

Grant belonged, and of the Clapham Sect .

Bishop Wilberforce greatly esteemed her, and their correspondence with each other was kept up to the end of his life . She died at her house near the ﬁr e- escape station and Opposite to the pond close to Clapham

Church . Her tablet in the parish church reads In Memor y of MARIANNE THORNTON B or n Ma r ch 1 0 1 , 797 Die No e er 1 88 d v mb 5 , 7 .

’ Sh e o en e h er h h o p d m out wi t wisd m .

Henry Venn , son of John Venn , and Secretary of the was born at 1 0 1 6 Clapham Rectory , on February , 79 . 2 1 8 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

1 80 In 5 he and Samuel Thornton , son of M P . Mr . Samuel Thornton , for Surrey,

. . MP and father of Mr Percy M Thornton , . . , were pupils under h is father at the Rectory but ill- health and pressure of other work only allowed John Venn to spare them an

n hour in the mor ing . The boys used to spend their holi days together at Albury T ’ Park , where Samuel hornton s father lived . Young Thornton went to sea in

1 81 . 4 His coach was late at Portsmouth, so that he missed being on board the

h a n n n ke S o in her ﬁght with the Ch esa pea . di d He not lack compensation, for he was

Ph oebe taken on the , which captured the

Essex r al ai , an American f igate , in V par so

was Bay that year . Henry Venn only

seventeen when his father died, but he was left as one of the executors of his ’ father s will with thi s tribute : His pru dence and discretion will amply make up ’ for his want of years and experience . He 1 8 1 8 was Nineteenth Wrangler in , and hi s became , like grandfather , a Fellow of ’

1 1 820 . Queens . On June 9 , , Z Macaulay

2 20 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

r hi s departu e of one of chief friends , a Secretary of the Wesleyan Methodists

(Rev . Dr . Beecham) who , with a sharp and C sudden transition, had been alled from ’ his labour to his rest . He quietly passed 1 1 8 away on January 3 , 73 , and was buried

in Mortlake Cemetery . Samuel Wilber

force, who had been baptized by his father, wrote : You must l ook on his li fe as a grand epic poem whi ch has ended in an ’ euthanasia of victory and rest . He told 1 1 8 Miss M . Thornton , January 4 , 73 Once

Recor d or twice , through the and otherwise , Venn has smi tten me hard when he thought I in any way wronged the but I no more resented it than I should have resented Sir Lancelot ’s chivalry for his ’ queen . ’ John Venn s second daughter , Jane

Catherine , married (Sir) James Stephen in

1 81 z - 4 . Sir James Fit James Stephen and

Sir Leslie Stephen were her sons . Leslie Stephen wrote I have never seen one like her to my thinking, and I suppose I never l ’ shal . I NHERITORS OF THE GREAT TRADITION 2 21

Gr eville Memoir s 1 8 The , in 33 , refer to the fact that Stephen had resigned a year at the Bar and taken at

al fﬁ al the Coloni O ce, princip ly in order to

: advance the cause of emancipation . He own ed that he had never known so great a ﬁ problem , nor so dif cult a question to settle . If the sentiments of j ustice and benevolence with which he is actuated were common to all who profess the same opinions , or if the same sagacity and resource which he possesses were likely to be applied to the

O practical peration of the scheme , the evils which are dreaded and foreseen might be i ’ mit gated and avoided . Sir James Stephen lived for a time at Stowey House on the south side of Clapham

Common . As legal adviser to the Colonial Ofﬁce he was called on to draft the Bill for 1 8 the Abolition of Slavery in 33 . It had been delayed by many causes, and he had to draft its sixty- six clauses between Saturday afternoon and the middle of Monday . He became Professor of Modern History 1 8 at Cambridge in 4 9 . The post had been 222 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

pressed on Macaulay by Prince Albert , and when he declined it the chair was f o fered to his friend , Sir James . n Charlotte Elliott , granddaughter of He ry

Venn the elder , was born at Clapham on h 1 8 1 8 Marc , 7 9, and lived there until her 1 8 removal to Brighton in 23 . It was at ’ her father s house in Clapham in 1 822 that Caesar Malan ventured to speak to her about personal religion . She had not thought deeply about spiritual things, but his faith ful words led her to Christ . Come to Him ’

hi s . j ust as you are , was counsel Her ’ great hymn, Just as I am , based on the words which had helped her to ﬁnd rest, 1 8 was written at Brighton in 34 . The title The Clapham Sect appears to have originated with Sydney Smith , who used it to describe the band of friends who stood shoulder to shoulder in the long ﬁght against ignorance and oppression .

The name , as Canon Overton says , is a “ little misleading . They did not follow any one in religion except their own parish e priest , whom their leader in works of pi ty

224 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD benedictions of the poor ; and with such testimonies of esteem and attachment from the learned as Cambridge had never before rendered even to the most illustrious of her sons ; and there he was lai d in that sure and cert ai n hope on which he enabled l an a most countless multitude to repose , ’ amidst the wreck of this world s promises , and in the grasp of their last and most ’ dreaded enemy . The young people at Clapham were kept in touch with the most inﬂuential religious leaders of the time . We have seen how Henry Martyn was brought on the Common ai by Mr . Charles Grant . There is a str n of loving hero -worship in the epitaph which Macaul ay wrote in his thirteenth year . The spirit of the Clapham Sect had already ﬁred the boy’s imagination and stirred hi s heart .

’ In an h oo s ear oo Her e Mar tyn lies . m d ly bl m

e h a n h er o ﬁn s a a an o Th C r isti d p g t mb . ’ Re i ion sor r owin o er h er n o est son l g , g bl , Poin ts t o th e glor ious tr oph ies th a t h e w on ; E er n al t r o hi es n ot wi h car n a e r ed t p t g , tain e wi h oo h os ile war r ior s sh e Not s d t bl d by t d, INHERITORS OF THE GREAT TRADITION 2 25

But r o h ies of th e Cr oss for h a ear n a e t p ; t t d m , Thr ou h e er or of a n er ea h a n d sh a e g v y f m d g , d t , m On wa r h e our n e e t o a h a ier sh or e d j y d pp , Wh er e er ea h an d sh a e sau o or e an as n . d g , d t , m lt m

An other missionary hero whom the young l e fo k knew well was Reginald Heb r , who

often visited Battersea Rise . Young Pen

n in t on g , who lived two doors nearer London t h e than Macaulays , noticed one Sunday in 1 826 that the Thorntons were in tears

during service in Clapham Church . He was told that news had j ust arrived of ’ i 2 Heber s death at Trichinopoly on Apr l , 1 8 6 2 . Goldwin Smith often stayed with b o the Penningtons as a y . When Sir James Stephen’s article on

Th e Cl a bh a m Sect 1 8 j appeared in 4 3 , Macaulay wrote to one of his sisters : I ’ think Stephen s article on Th e Cla ph a m di d Sect the best thing he ever . I do not think with you that the Cla ph a mit es were i men t oo obscure for such delineat on .

The truth is , that from that little knot of men emanated all the Bible societies , and the m t e almost all issionary societies, in h 226 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

world . The whole organization of the

Evangelical party was their work . The share which they had in providing means for the education of the people was great . They were really the destroyers of the slave trade and slavery . Many of those whom Stephen describes were public men r of the g eatest weight . Lord Teignmouth govern ed India at Calcutta Grant governed ’ Lea den h a ll India in Street . Stephen s ’ father was Per cev a l s right -hand man in ’ the House of Commons .

Cla ph a m is supposed t o h a ve r eceived its a ppella ti on r o on e of its a n c en r o e o s Os od C a a b e n t h e f m i t p pri t r , g l p i g ’ n a me of t h e Dan ish lor d a t whose da ught er s mar r ia ge fea st ’ Har ca n t e e . In t h e C er s e e i s e o e er di u di d h t y R g t r , h w v , it s n a e l a en I i m d C pp h am as f ar ba ck as th e reign of Alfr ed . n t h es a H son e o S e i s en e e as CIO eh am . D m d y urv y it t r d p ugh , i n h is Hi stor y of L on don ( 1 80 8) descr ib es Cla pha m as a vill a ge ‘ a o o mi es r o Wes mi n s e e m a n b ut f ur l f m t t r Bridg , with y h a n d SOm e o ses s r r o n n a Co on h a co a n s h u , u u di g mm t t mm d ’ e a n e H son sa a th e Co on ha d ma n y pl as t vi ws . ugh ys th t mm been little better tha n a morass a t th e begi n n in g of t h e reign

of eo e t h e Th ir a n d th e r oa s a os assa e. G rg d , d lm t imp bl n f Mr C o er a i n a e h o th e ex er o s o . s L rg ly t r ugh ti hri t ph B ldw , P an old es en a c s scr on w a s a se th e J . r id t , publi ub ipti r i d , oa s e a e a n d t h e Co on so ea i l a n e r d r p ir d , mm b ut fully p t d with ’ r ees h a h as t h e a ear a n ce of a ar . t , t t it pp p k

N on . 20 Old an d ew Lon d . , vi 3 CHAPTER VII

A PILGRIMAGE IN CLAPHAM

A VISIT to the homes and haunts of the Clapham philanthropists adds sensibly to the interest of a study of their lives and work . The best place to begin the pil grimage is at the Notre Dame Convent

School on the south side of the Common . The electric cars from London pass it a moment or two after they have left the

- Plough at Clapham . Two red brick houses are j oined into one block . In the house nearer Balham John Thornton was born in 1 0 hi 2 . s 7 (p His father lived here , and son succeeded to the estate . Such men as V Henry enn , John Newton , and the Evan gelical leaders of the time were constant visitors at this house . What a story these walls could tell of John Thornton ’s princely generosity and simple devotion He made 229 230 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

the fame of Clapham when he offered

hi s Wilberforce a room in house (pp . 98 where the popul ar young member of Parliament might ﬁnd rest and Christian

converse in the country . That invitation

hi s brought its blessing to own son Henry , who found in Wilberforce a kindred spirit and was soon full y launched on his own

course of philanthropic service . After John Thornton ’s death Henry Venn spent a e Sunday her With the bereaved family , and spoke at the old house about the friend whom he had known and loved for thirty

ix s years (p . After their father ’s death Samuel Thorn

in i ton lived this house , wh lst his brother Robert occupied that on the left- hand side — (PP 1 74 5 5 On his return from his Governor -General ship in India , Lord Teignmouth , ﬁrst Presi dent of the British and Foreign Bible hi Society , took the house in w ch John u Thornton had lived . Visitors fo nd their way to him from all parts of the world (p . The traditions of the house were well

23 2 A ss cr THAT MOVED THE WORLD

L once the home of Mr . ubbock , the banker (p f and of Single- speech Hamilton ; but since 1 792 it has been the property of the

Thornton family . When Henry Thornton and William Wilberforce lived here as i bachelors, Hannah More was one of the r

honoured guests . The lofty oval library was built from a design suggested by l R Wil iam Pitt . At Battersea ise anti slavery plans were matured, and the de lightful social gatherings of the Sect were held (p . John Venn came here to consult his lay colleagues about their mis sion a r y proj ects . Charles Simeon was pre in sent , greatly earnest about the spread R of the gospel (p . Sir obert Inglis made t h e house a resort of all the men of note and genius of his day . Southey and Sir Walter Scott both Visited him here

(p .

- Glenelg , on the right hand side, was the home of Mr . Charles Grant, the great Indian

Director , and his distinguished sons , the elder of whom was Chief Secretary for

Ireland, and the younger Governor of A PILGRIMAGE IN CLAPHAM 233

Bombay an d author of O worshi p the ’ King , and other hymns dear to all churches

1 20 1 Rev . (pp . , 94 The William Arthur,

- the Well known Methodist President , author

Th e Ton ue o F ir e of g f , and other works, lived here . At Maisonette, which stands R to the east of Battersea ise House , lived the great j urist, Sir James Mackintosh, to whom we owe that softening of our criminal law which saved sheep - stealers and forgers from the gallows (p . ’ B r oomﬁeld , the house of Pitt s sister , and her husband , the Hon . E . Eliot, and after oi u wards Wilberforce, was p lled down in 1 It di hin 904 . lay some stance be d Batter in sea Rise House , what is now Wroughton R oad . Sir Charles Forbes , who lived here 1 8 1 1 8 from 5 to 77 , changed the name to

Broomwood (p . Wilberforce published his Pr a cti cal Vi ew the same year that he B r oom ﬁeld entered on possession of . There he heard that it had led to the conversion

‘ h R hi s of Leg ichmond, and there son

Samuel, afterwards Bishop of Winchester, 1 was born (pp . 22 234 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD

Our pilgrimage now leads us back towards the parish church . As we pass along the

n north side of the Commo , The Terrace , R between Victoria oad and The Chase, marks the spot where once stood the house in whi ch Samuel Pepys spent his last W days, and here he was visited by John

Evelyn (pp . 3 2 The house on the west side of The Chase , now The Hostel of ’ God, was the home of Sir Charles Barry , hi the arc tect of the Houses of Parliament , and in that on the east side lived Mr . Grover , a the loc l historian , who regarded it as the oldest house on Clapham Common . A few yards eastwards we reach Church Buildings , 1 1 —20 a row of houses erected 7 3 , which are ascribed to Wren . The house on the western side of the archway nearest to Old

Clapham , where Granville Sharp once lived , was the school of William Greaves, who was brought to Clapham to teach the negro boys who came from Sierra Leone hi with Zachary Macaulay . The Yorks re man afterwards attained celebrity as the ﬁrst schoolmaster of Thomas Babington

A PILGRIMAGE IN CLAPHAM 237

Macaulay , the second Lord Teignmouth ,

Samuel Wilberforce , and other children of 1 6 the Clapham Sect (pp . 3 , Clarence

House , a few doors to the left , was Mr .

’ Stroud s school , where Tom Hood was a pupil . Their parish church ﬁlled a large place C in the history of the lapham Sect . We may ﬁrst pass through the Town and ! Old ’ Rectory Grove to St . Paul s Church . This ’ stands on the site of St . Mary s , which was l 1 6 the parish church of Clapham ti l 77 .

Here Henry Venn served as curate . On the north side of its graveyard John

Thornton and many of his descendants rest . His great square tomb behind the church records also the names of Henry Thornton and his wife . There is a slab on the wall of the church close by in memory of Henry ’ 6 Thornton s daughter Marianne (pp . 2 1 The old rectory where John Venn lived was in Larkhall Lane , near the old parish church (p . Grove House , l ’ the home of Charlotte E liott s girlhood , was not far from the old rectory . Both I4 238 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD seem to have been pull ed down about

1 884 .

The present parish church , dedicated to 1 6 the Holy Trinity , was opened in 77 , when the population of Clapham was growing 8 rapidl y (pp . 7 It is ninety feet long and sixty wide , so that it marked a notable Th e advance on its modest predecessor . spacious church , with a gallery that sur oi rounds three sides the building, remains much as it was in the days of William

Wilberforce , though the chancel was added in 1 902 . The families of the famous philan ” th r opist s of Clapham worshipped here

(p . At the east end of the gallery is a marble column in memory of John Thornton, who contributed largely to the erection of the building . This monument was erected in 1 81 6 by his son , Samuel Thornton , one of the members of Parliament for Surrey .

A memorial to the rector, William l r Dea t D . D 1 81 y , . ( 3 is on the north

in scr i side of the gallery . The copious p t ion was written by John Thornton, Jun .

24 0 A SECT THAT MOVED THE WORLD well maintains that friendliness for workers of other religious communions which the

Clapham Sect always cultivated . The last step of our pilgrimage brings us to the shop , No . 5 The Pavement , which bears ul s the name Maca ay Hou e . It is a few m doors fro the Plough Inn . The tiny garden of the front has long been built over , but the house remains . Here Lord Macaulay spent his wonderful childhood

(p . and set out with his mother and sister on his rambles over the Common , which was a realm of unfailing romance to the gifted boy . The pilgrimage makes an easy afternoon walk , but it will furnish material for much delightful study of the Sect which roused England to wash her hands of all i compl city in the slave trade , and by its devotion to the Church Missionary Society and the Bible Society has done much to hasten the coming of that new earth where in dwelleth righteousness . If the visitor who has made his pil grimage will step on boa rd the electric car A PILGRIMAGE IN CLAPHAM 2 4 1 for Westminster and ﬁnd his way to the ’ Abbey , he will see Wilberforce s statue in the north aisle of the choir . Zachary ’ Macaulay s monument is in the nave , and not far from it is that to Sir James Mackin ’ tosh . Lord Macaulay is buried in Poets ’ Corner . Granville Sharp s monument by

Chantry is also in the south transept , and was erected by the African Society as a mark of gratitude for the labours of that noble champion of the slave . Such me ’ m or ials bear witness to England s grateful remembrance of names that will always be loved and honoured in Clapham .

24 4 INDE!

F z e al a Ma r L a w W a 2 8 it g r d, L dy y , 5 5 , illi m , F e c e o n 1 — L e oo 1 1 2 l t h r , J h , 5 5 iv rp l , 33, 4 F o es Sir C a es 1 2 1 2 oc Mr 1 1 rb , h rl , , 33 Lubb k , 3 F 8 ost e Rev . H. 1 r , , 7 , 4 F o a h M ss on 1 Ma ca a o 1 8- 2 1 ul i i , 35 ul y , L rd , 9 3 , 24 0- 1 Mi s Ma ca a Mr s . see a en Sir Den s 1—2 ul y , ( ll ), G ud , i , 3 1 6 20 2 2 06- 8 en e o 1 — 2 2 3 , , Gl lg , L rd , 9 3 4 , 3 Ma ca a M ss F a n n 1 8 an C ar es 8 1 20 —1 ul y , i y , 4 , Gr t , h l , 5 , , 20 1 2 6 1 - 3 , 5 9 6 1 , 1 64 , 1 69 , Ma ca a Za c a 1 1 1 20 u , , 5 , , 2 32 l y h ry 1 2 8—2 1 3 1 6 —6 1 2 an Sir o e 1 — 4 , 4 , 5 , 7 , Gr t , R b rt , 9 3 7 , I I 2- 2 0 3- 1 2 9 . 9 , 4 , 4 . 2 32 7 3 3 2 1 ea es W a 1 8 20 1—2 4 Gr v , illi m , 3 , , Ma n r 1 2 c osh , Si 1 8 , 7 , 2 34 ki t J 3 2 4 1 o e Mr . 1 2 2 Gr v r , , 3 , 34 , 39 Ma e e d l y . 5 4 Mar n Hen 1 6 1 t , , 4 , 9 3 , Ha on S n e-s eec 1 1 y ry milt , i gl p h , 3 2 24 Ha v e Rev a es r y , . J m , 7 3 Me o s 0 1 1 2 , 34 , 5 , 9 , 5 , Ha s n s Wa en 1 68— th di m ti g , rr , 9 1 - 1 - 34 5 » 4 9 5 5 He e s o 2 1 2 2 b r , Bi h p , 5 , 5 Met o s H n -B o 1 — h di t ym o k , 34 He e Mr . 2 w r , , 3 3 M s Se n a 1 20 1 — see , , , 34 5 ( Hoo Tom 2 0 2 ill li d , , 3, 37 M a a — Mr s . ac ul y) H e sﬁe 0 ' udd r ld , 4 7 5 M ln e s Th e 8 1 8 0 , , , 3 , 9 , H 0 2 i r ull , 4 4 , 9 , 9 9 3- 4 H n t n on L a 1 u g , , 37 , 5 i d dy M ss on a o i i ry w rk , Hun tin t o ia n s 86 g n , Mo e Ha n n 8 1 0 1 1 r , ah , 4 , 7 , 9 , 1 2 6 1 1 6 1 2 2 , 34 , 3 , 79 , 3 In a M ss on s i n 1 - 6 di , i i , 5 9 4 Mo e Pa 1 26 1 r , tty , , 34 I Sir H 2 1 — 2 2 n s . 1 gli , , 4 5 , 3 M e o Mr . 2 1 tl y , , 3

I e a n Mr . 2 r l d , , 5

Ne o o s i n C a a gr b y l ph m , e i O 1 26 2 — , B sh Z , 39 1 6 2 0 1 2 J bb p 3 7 , , 34 Sir W 1 1 on es , . , 7 Ne on o n 6 1 62 66 J wt , J h , , , , 1 - I 7 , 9 7 9 , 33 Mr 8 8 N n a e L an e 1 2 ! n e s . ip , , 3 , 4 ighti g l , 5 ! n s o sco n ess No r e Da e Con en Sch oo ut f rd , Vi u t , t m v t l , 2 2 x4 5 4 3. 9 INDE! 24 s

O e on Ca n on 1 1 8 Te n o h or 1 26 166 v rt , , 4 , 5 7 , 3 , ig m ut , L d . , 2 22 2 74 . 30 Te n o h econ or ig m ut , S d L d , Pa e s on F s or 2 2 0 1 lm r t , ir t L d , 4 Pea r son H 8 T or n on Hen r 1 1 2—2 2 , ugh , 9 h t , y , 4 4 , , Pen n n on s Th e 1 8 1 1 1 1 1 - 6 1 80 2 2 i gt , , 9 , 9 3, 3 , 37 , 7 5 , , 3 , 2 2 2 h is F a il P a 5 37 2 m y r yer s, Pe s Sa e 2- 1 1 - 1 py , mu l , 3 3 4 5 Pe ce a Mr 1 1 2 2 26 T o n on Hen es 20 v , . , 4 5 , 7 , , y k , 9 , r l h r —t r Sy P W a 2 1 0 2 1 1 6 itt , illi m , 9 , 94 , 5 , 5 1 1 1 2 1 1 6 2 2 T o n t on o n 1 6 3 , , 9 , 3 h r , J h , 4 , 4 , 4 9 , 62 —8

- T a n ol s o 8 0 o n on o n un . 1 R d ph , Bi h p , 9 9 h r t , J h , j , 5 , ec o O ld C a a 8 2 R t ry , l ph m , 9 , 39 2 T o n on M ss Ma a n n e 37 h r t , i ri , e o s T a ct Soc e 2 1 6- 1 2 2 R ligi u r i ty , 7 , 37 , 39 1 6 20 8 T o n n r 6 o M s . o n , h r t , J h , 4 3 c n Le 1 2 T o n n Pe o o M. c M. P. , , , 2 , Ri hm d gh 5 33 h r t r y , ,

sse Mr . . W . E. 1 1 2 1 8 Ru ll , G , 5 , 1 0- 2 2 1 T o n t on o e t 1 9 , 7 h r , R b r , 74 T o n t on Sa e 6 1 0 h r , mu l , 9 , 7 , S a a n e 10 106 1 2 1 8 2 0 2 8 h rp , Gr vill , 5 , , 74 , , 3 , 3 - T 1 2 2 1 e e a n Sir . O . 6 4 4 , 4 r v ly , G , 5 , e a L eon e 1 1 - 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 0 Si rr , 3 5 9 , 9 , 99 , S eon C a es 60 —1 82 T e e a n a 2 0 im , h rl , , , r v ly , L dy , 3 1 1 2 2 2 2 6 , 3 , 3 a e r a e 10 I 1 - en n Ca h e n e 6 Sl v t d , 4 , 3 4 i V , t ri , 5 , 7 3 a o s e 1 6 en n Hen e o s a a b li h d , 4 V , ry , r ligi u w k S t o n 2 2 en in 1 8 es Wes mi h , G ldwi , 5 g , writ S t S n e 2 2 2 l e 1 - 2 2 —8 o mi h , yd y , y , 9 , 5 5 ; y uth , W M 1 80 2 - ea s W L S t P . a w 2 8 mi h , . , 4 5 r d , St on h ouse Sir a es 2 8 c a e a t C a a —1 , J m , 9 , 4 ur t l ph m , 33 4 , St e en a es 1 - 6 a a e 6 a t ph , J m , 4 4 4 7 m rri g , 3 ; e en Si r a es 6 6 H e sﬁe —0 St ph , J m , 4 , 5 , udd r ld , 4 7 5 6 1 00 1 06 1 1 6 1 2 1 ea c es a t ! n st on -0n 7 , , , , , pr h i g 1 8 1 8 1 2 20- 2 2 2 T a es ast a s i n 4 , 5 , 7 3 , , 5 , h m , 4 9 ; l d y 2 1 C a a 2— a n d Wil 3 l ph m , 7 4 ; e C a e 1 00 b er for ce 1 00 ett e on Surr y h p l , , ; l r S es a 1 20 2 1 e o s e 1 86 yk f mily , , 9 r ligi u lif , 246 INDE!

2 1 - 20 W er r en n Hen r un . o ce Mr of W e V , y , j , 7 ilb f , imbl en n o n 2 d on 1 e of 66 V , J h , 4 4 . 7 . 7 3, , 44 , 9 ; wif , , 1 - 6 1 1 a n d 1 1 8 , 9 ; 9 . 97 » 00 1 62- 1 2 2 2 —8 W er or ce Sa e 1 - 8 4 , 73 , 3 , 37 ilb f , mu l , 97 ,

en n Mr s . o n 8 2 02 2 20 V , J h , 4 4 , 73, 3 , en n c ar 2 2— 2 W e o ce W a r h V , Ri h d , 3 , 4 ilb rf r , illi m , bi t of 8 1 0 r a n n 0 , , 9 ; t i i g , 9 ; Wa son c ar 1 2 con er s on 6 - 1 0 1 t , Ri h d , 5 v i , 7 , 9 3 Wesl e C ar es a n d th e s a e tr a e 1 0 ee s y, h l , l v d , 5 ; m t en n s 2 6- ee s t h e Wes e s 1 0 —1 2 a t V , 3 , 3 7 ; m t l y , 7 ; W er o ce 1 0 B r oom ﬁeld 1 2 2- Pr a e ilb f r , 7 , 5 ; H en n ti c l V ew 2 2— s Wes e o n a n d . a i 1 a e l y , J h , V , , 5 l v 1 8- 2 2 —8 on s a e t r a e a o is e 1 6 n a , 5 5 ; l v d b l h d , 4 I di , r a e 1 0 a n d Wi e 1 6 1 1 6 t d , 4 ; lb r , 9 o ce 1 0 W n son M ss 20 f r , 7 ilki , i , 4 Wes Ho s e 2 W e on 1— t r l y , 7 imbl d , 9 4 West n s e A e I 1 1 Wo Mr 1 08 1 6 mi t r bb y, 7 , 4 , lff , , 3 2 1 2 0 3 , 4 W t eﬁe eo e 2 2 - e li n 8- 6 1 8 hi ld , G rg , , 34 5 , Y l g , 4 9 , 5 3, 5 , 3 8 o 2 37 . 4 Y rk, 9

Pr in ted b Ha z cll Wa tso n Vi n d . Lon d on n s y , a L , a d Ay le bmy .

B Y THE S AME A UTHOR

Dem 8vo . C o B oa s 3 n . e . y l th rd 5 . t

THE METHODIST HYMN-BO O! ILLUSTRATED

In ciden t s a n d An ecdot es a ssocia t ed with t h e Auth or a n d Hi st ory of ea ch Hym n

We a e ea th e oo th e ea es n e es It i s n a a e t o h v r d b k with gr t t i t r t . i v lu bl th e ea c e C a ss-Lea e an d each e a n d n ee t o a ll n - o e s Pr h r, l d r, T r, i d d , hym l v r . It es i n co a c for s c n o a on a s t h e en e a ea e an s iv mp t m u h i f rm ti g r l r d r w t , an t? c h e s o e se a o o s s ea c out i n a n o u es Its whi h mu t th rwi l b ri u ly r h m yv l m . use will a d d ea tly to t h e a pprec i a tio n an d en joym en t of our n oble Hym n ’ n —Meth d B oo It m a es th e s e. o st Recor d er . k . hym liv i

‘ - A n ex ce en f e sh ill in sw or th . Th e e o h a d n o li h t a s a n d it ll t iv dit r t k, h a s been well a ccomplish e There h a s been such th or o ug resea rch tha t i t seem s a s i f n o kn o wn fa ct o r prin ted referen ce i n rega rd t o a n y h mn ’ O l b l h a e een o e . Rea n Mr Te o s ex ce en ui e o can SS v b mitt d di g . lf rd ll t g t t h e m n ook w e eco e o e a n e e con scm us o f t h e a e o s y , b m m r th v r m rv ll u o e of a n o f ese a n d old s on s of th e C u c h c h a e h e e p w r m y th g h r , whi h v lp d r a ll w h o a h e e o t h e res t est a n d i best 0 ou r ce. A h ve t M th di st Hym n ’— B oo s o a e s co a n on o u e a n d s i t . Ch r i st a n A e h uld h v thi mp i v l m , tudy i g

THE STORY O F THE UPPER RO OM

C o n 8vo C o . 23 . 6d r w . l th .

- A s e e o a n d ofi a e a . Th e e o a n d s e ea e impl , d v ut , pr t bl t lk d v ut impl h rt d M Te o a co e en an d a a c e - rea d er W ill fin d r . lf rd mp t t ttr tiv guid e i n r e rea din g t h e fiv e grea t cha pters which en shrin e t h e fa rewell word s of our Lord

Ch r i s tia n L ea d er .

‘ T e e e e ee h e e a r e . n ow o oo oo s on h a a of h r w r thr , t r f ur g d b k t t p rt ll e e c e c w e a e t o b e t h e ea es e e en . Dr S ri tur whi h b li v gr t t v r writt . e n d Dr Wa son e us ﬁn e s e o n - o n c s e i n ff e e Mac a r n a . t g iv rm w rk i i iv di r n t W a s a w e s a of Mr Te o ? He i s s . e o on a a n d direction . h t h ll y — lf rd d v ti l He i s for h o e ea n . Ex os tor Tim es . pra ctica l . m r di g p i y ‘ “ Th e St ory o f th e Upper Roo m h a s n ever before been t old s o fully

s on n ec e a s i n ea en o . e o a n d o c t dly this b utifully writt v lume Mr . T lf rd h a s i en us a se es o f o es a t on ce ac ca a n d s ual i n c g v ri h mili pr ti l pirit , whi h, W n e en en o a n d s o a n s uc o f t h e essen ce ith i d p d t th ught kilful w rkm hip , m h n ce of c c n o St A us ti n e a n d fra gra hoi e ex po s itio s fr m . t o Ca n on B ern a rd - ’— Wa son a e een G r ea t pgou h ts r . es e e . a n d D t h v b pr rv d . g ‘ e en s ec Th e A helpful tr a tm t o f a c h a rmin g ubj t. result o f m a n y ea s of h o a n d s t h e oo i s a ea c on on to th e e y r t ught tudy , b k r l tributi th me ea M e i n o t e e a n ex c s . r . T o s osuor h e i s al s with whi h it d l lf rd m r ly p , o an s a o a n d h i s a es a r e a e a a c e W s u es e a e n illu tr t r, p g m d ttr tiv ith gg tiv g th ri g s ' — c n e e. Ch r i st a fro m bi ogra phi a l a d hi st orica l lit ra tur i n .

N H RLES H TLE T NDO A . ! ELLY 2 CA REET ITY ROA LO C , S S , C D, RN A D 2 6 ATE OSTE R W . A N o o N R O E C. D r ALL B o k set t r a P , ; s.