1 Richard Jukes, the Poet Transcription of Sketch in the Primitive Methodist Magazine by Grapho

Richard Jukes, The Poet Transcription of Sketch in the Primitive Methodist Magazine by Grapho “A Servant of the most high God.” We must confess to some little perplexity, with regard to where to fix our point of beginning in this proposed series of life-sketches. Our difficulty is not because of paucity; but because of the abundance of names. For Primitive Methodism is wealthy in the possession of worthy and honoured names. No chronological order will be maintained in our selection; nor shall we be limited to any district or locality in our choice, but we shall endeavour to compass the whole connexion’s length and breadth, to find our “representative men.” Still, it seems to us the most natural and consistent thing to begin at least with some whose names cluster around our childhood, and which are like precious perfume wafted from the “classic regions” of our denomination's earlier decades to regale and to inspire even now. And with these feelings we have set the name of Richard Jukes to commence with. And we have been constrained to do this for two reasons. Because he belongs to the first generation of our heroic forefathers, and because he is the first, or one of the first of our old warriors who came into my early life, and whose influences are entwined around one’s tender years. Through the vista of the long years we see him still massive and princely in form. For our old sires, at least many of them, were built physically for the almost superhuman hardships and toilings of those beginning years of our Church’s history. We see him now - a kingly man, gentlemanly in bearing, filled with the sweetness of grace, abounding in wit and humour, amiability and cheerfulness, vivacity and tenderness, strength and sympathy, all beautifully blending in him. A man to lay a spell upon strongman, and to win a child’s heart alike. He was born October 9th, 1804, at Clungunford, in Shropshire. His parents made no profession of religion, although they occasionally attended the Parish Church. His education was of a limited character, as may be judged by the times, the place, and the means of his parents. His father was a stone-mason, and, as was the custom, Richard while a lad was sent to work, and was intended to become like his father, a stonecutter. And what he afterwards became was almost entirely the result of Divine grace quickening, and his own industry unfolding, his mental and moral powers. Nature had been generous with him. Powerfully made physically - intellectually his gifts were of no ordinary sort, while morally he was healthy, vigorous and tender. 1 Even as a youth there were prophecies in him of commanding power. Among the lads of the village he towered and became leader. And to them he was a paragon of wisdom and might. Next to birth, conversion is the most important event in a man’s life. And we are not sure that we are exactly correct in giving birth the premier importance. For better never to have been born than to have never undergone the change which makes the natural man a spiritual one. When the man:- “Out of self to love be led, And to Heaven acclimated, Until all things sweet and good Seem his natural habitude.” Richard Juke’s first religious impressions may be traced to the remark of a fellow workman who one day said to him, “Richard, the peace of God passeth understanding.” And the strangeness of this circumstance is, that the man who so spoke was himself a backslider. The remark, however, was like the word, “fitly spoken,” or the “nail driven in a sure place.” It was the beginning of reflection, and the result soon after was dedication to God. In the year 1825 some of our missionaries visited Clungunford. Richard Jukes was one of the first converts. The simplicity and reality of his conversion are expressed in his own words! - “Twas in a cottage near a wood I was convinced of sin, And there my race for endless life Through mercy did begin. ’Twas there I heard those cheering words, ‘Thy sins are all forgiven!’ And there I joined the little band, Whose names are penned in heaven. And when I reach ‘The Better Land,’ And stand on Zion’s hill, The humble cottage near the wood Will be remembered still." Almost simultaneous with his conversion was his call to service. His gifts were soon recognised, and in those early days labourers were needed, and the converts caught the contagious and consuming passion for usefulness which so marked that time, that a short and quick process of preparation was often witnessed. The Lord’s workmen cannot be too well equipped, and they should grudge no time and expenditure to become accoutred. However, the demand for labour sometimes justifies the employment of less skilled men, and pressing hours often make less expert and experienced hands not only necessary, but acceptable. At the September Quarterly Meeting, 1825, the year of his conversion, he was put on the plan as an exhorter. For nearly two years he worked as a stonemason for six days in the week, and on the Sabbath set out for a journey of ten, twenty, or more of miles, preached twice or thrice, perhaps, lead a class or two, with an open-air service between, arriving home on Monday morning to snatch a short sleep before beginning the week’s work for a living. 2 Methodism can never imagine, nor sufficiently appreciate what it owes to its honoured “locals.” They belong to the circuit’s ministry - supplement and co-operate with the minister, and fill up that which he lacks in opportunity and time, and share in his aims and successes. At the December of 1826, Richard Jukes became one of the ministers of his native circuit, which was then known as the Hopton Bank Circuit. The circuit was very extensive, his labours were prodigious, and his success remarkable. The humility and zeal, devotedness and urbanity, labours and character of the young preacher, impressed the people, so that his friends increased, the congregations multiplied, societies were formed, houses were opened in several new districts for preaching, and for eighteen months the good news of salvation spread like a prairie fire among the people of the Radnorshire hills. In July, 1828, he went to the Brinkworth circuit. Here, amid many difficulties and much persecution, new places were missioned and old ones revived. “The circuit was flooded with a divine, revivalistic, soul-saving and sanctifying influence.” In 1830 he removed to Pillawell circuit. In 1831 he was stationed at Salisbury circuit. In 1833 he went to Birmingham. From Birmingham he removed to Nottingham. In 1834 he was labouring in the Ramsor circuit. In 1838 he went to the Darlaston circuit. In 1842 he removed to Tunstall circuit. His next station was Congleton. In 1846 he began to labour in the Dudley circuit. ln 1849 he was re-stationed in the Darlaston circuit. In 1851 he removed to the Brierley Hill circuit. In 1853 he went to Coventry. In 1855 he went to West Bromwich. This was his last station. Here he was superannuated, and lived till August, 1867, when the tired workman passed into rest. The above hurried outline of the places and years of his labours will soon be read; but what imagination can fill in the varied labours, sufferings, and sometimes privations involved? Most of the circuits were very extensive, the people poor, which often meant long journeys on foot and scanty food. In some places strong opposition and insults were experienced, as the message was carried to new localities. But Richard Jukes was a man with a purpose, and he was not easily deterred nor discouraged, and he succeeded where many would have failed. Apostolic were his labours, both with regard to the spirit in which he toiled and the prosperity which almost everywhere followed his ministry. In Darlaston he laboured from 1849 to 1851, and during these two years there was an increase of four hundred and twenty-four members. During his three years’ ministry at Dudley - 1846-1849 - the increase of members was four hundred and eighty-five. Space forbids us following him into other spheres; enough to say he was the same fervent soul and the same soul-saving workman throughout. His own words describe him and the secret of his marvellous ministry better than any words of mine:- “You ask my occupation, A soldier I reply, A shepherd and a watchman; Sometimes to preach I try. No matter what my station, My object still is one - To glorify my Maker, Through Jesus Christ, His Son.” An old Writer has said “a good man is four square.” And in Mr. Jukes this was realized. There were the nicely-balanced blendings of nature and grace, the physical and the mental, the moral and the spiritual, in beautiful equipoise. His teaching was with power. He was “an able minister of the New 3 Testament,” peaceful, kindly, and commanding in all his official relations. The secret of his character as a man, and his power as a minister we find in his own words:- “I place no trust in any human creed, Nor pin my faith on what a man may read; The Saviour did himself for sin atone, None else can give the soul a heavenly throne. I’ll plead His Blood with my expiring breath, Be this my joy in life, my hope in death.” We have ventured to call Mr.

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