Bradburn's Memoirs 1816
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This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible. https://books.google.com RB.23 a.18139 (, 2S7 tº --- - - - - - - - º *.- -~ -- - - ~~~~ -…… …- - - - - --------* - - ---- º ， ? filtmoirſ; OF THE LATE REV. SAMUEL BRADBURN. -º - ae* * … *** * * * * - - º // / filtmoirg OF THE LATE Rev. SAMUEL BRADBURN; CONSISTING PRINCIPALLY OF 3 ſºarratine of big £arip 3Life, WRITTEN BY HIMSELF; AND EXTRACTS FROM A JOURNAL, Which he kept upwards of Forty Years. -º To w HICH Is ADDED, A SELECTION FROM HIS MANUSCRIPTS. -Q BY ELIZA WEA VER BRADBURN". —º LONDON : PRINTED AND SOLD BY RICHARD EDWARDS, Crane Court, Fleet Street; sold ALso BY T. BLANs HARD, CITY ROAD, AND ALL OTHER BookSELLERs. 1816. K. B. z.3.q. 13/37. PREFACE. My ever dear and honoured Father de parted this life, during the time his brethren in the ministry were assembled in London, from all parts of the kingdom, to hold their annual Conference. Several of these pious and sensible men having an opportunity of seeing his Journal, and the account which he wrote of his early life, conversion to God, and call to the ministry, were of opinion, that a selection from these and other manu scripts would form a small volume, calculated - to be gratifying and useful to my father's nu merous friends; and they advised me to pre pare it for the press. Having no desire for public notice, the idea of becoming an editor a 3 vi PREFACE, appeared rather formidable; but thinking it would be wrong to refuse engaging in a work, which afforded me a favourable opportunity of benefiting my dearest relatives, and of publishing Memoirs which may be instru mental to the religious instruction of many thousands, l yielded to their advice in pre paring the present volume for publication. In various parts of the united kingdom, where my father was in the habit of preach ing, from time to time, for above forty years, there are many persons still living, who, by means of his ministerial labours, were con vinced of sin, and brought to the knowledge of God: many who, when suffering under the most painful dispensations of Providence, were comforted by his encouraging dis courses. With what melancholy pleasure will they peruse the account of his own trials, of the agonizing sensations of his mind on some occasions, and of the heavenly love and gratitude which often filled his heart when PREFACE. vii reflecting on the goodness of God to him f To them, the MEMoirs will be particularly pleasing, especially as the principal part was written by himself; for, however faith fully another might marrate a series of events which formed the leading features of his life, it would be impossible for any pen but his own, to describe the varied feelings of his mind, during the occurrence of those eVents. The manner in which the first article in the following pages was preserved from de struction, is rather remarkable. For several months previous to my father's death, his intellectual powers were much decayed ; and before the family were sufficiently aware of this, he destroyed many books, manuscript sermons, &c. My sisters, one day, on entering the study, where he usually sat alone, perceived him burning a pile of writings on the hearth: they rescued several from the flames, and were much gratified on viii PREFACE, finding, among other papers, a small book very neatly written, entitled, Some account of my early Life and Eaperience. From that time, part of the family always remained with him; and proper care was taken to preserve the remainder of his manuscripts; among which was a Journal, containing a memorandum of every sermon he had preached from the year 1774, to 1815, with reflections on the state of his mind, circum stances, &c. during the whole of that time. In making extracts from this Journal, I have mot selected such only as represent the writer in the most favourable point of view, though that writer was a beloved, affectionate pa rent. At the commencement of my under taking, indeed, I intended to omit some cir cumstances which are now inserted in the following pages: not being able to re concile to my feelings the idea of a daugh ter's hand exposing to public observa tion, the shades in a Father's character; PREFACE, ix but from the judicious representations of friends, competent to advise on a subject of so delicate a nature, I was induced to transcribe his own ingenuous confession of many failings and improprieties. It is worthy of remark, however, that, though the Journal contains an account of various faults, not one of his numerous acts of be neficence is recorded there.-no mention is made of his hospitality to strangers, bene volence to the poor, sympathy with the af flicted, and generosity to all around him. But the remembrance of many a kind, of many a noble deed is cherished by those who loved and knew him well. Oh, how of ten did the unexpected value of his dona tion kindle joy in the suppliant's eye how often was he abundantly rewarded by the tear of gratitude 1 The humility with which my father speaks of himself, even when at the height of his popularity, rendered it highly necessary, in X PREFACE. order to complete the Memoirs, that seme thing more should be said of him than what could be gathered from his own modest ac count; I therefore consider myself greatly obliged to a Minister, who enjoyed his con fidence and friendship upwards of twenty years, for the character he has written of him, and which follows the account of his death. As no article has been inserted merely to increase the size of the volume, it is hoped, that the whole of the Selection from my fa ther's papers, will be found equally pleasing and instructive. E. W. B. London, JWow. 9, 1816. x1 CONTENTS. - Page Early Life and Experience of the late Rev. Samuel Bradburn, written by himself, - 1 Extracts from his Journal, - - - 42 Account of his Illness and Death, - 52 A Sketch of his Character, - - - 159 A SELECTION FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS OF THE DECEASED. A Reverie, - - - - - - 179 Hints respecting Prayer and Self-examina tion, - - - 185 Creed, - - * 191 Rules for Conversation, - - 195 Rules to be observed in preparing for the Pulpit, - - - 201 Rules to be observed in Preaching, - 208 Letter from Mr. Bradburn to a young Preacher, - t- - 209 Letter from the same to Mrs. G. ** 213 Extract of a Letter from the same to the Rev. Dr. Coke, - - - 224 Fragments, - - - 228 Lines on the Death of Mr. Bradburn, by Mr. Marsden, t- - - 235 MEMOIRS, &c. cºatip 3Dife and &rperieute of THE LATE REV. SAMUEL BRADBURN, WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. --- MY Father, SAMUEL BRADBURN, the young est son of Isaac Bradburn, was born at Atcham, near Shrewsbury, in the year 1719. He was bred to the business of a gardener, and had, what was considered at that time, a tolerably good education. His mother, being a pious woman, took great pains to instruct him in the knowledge and fear of God; in which she was greatly assisted by Mr. Edward Bold, (her son by a former husband) who was a school-master at Atcham, for many years, and a man of un blemished character. - In the year 1738, my father first became acquainted with my mother, who was the only daughter of Samuel Jones, a noted gardener B * * 2 MEMOIRS OF THE at Wrexham. Their acquaintance soon in creased to such an affection, that in the begin ning of the year 1740, they were married in Chester, without the consent or knowledge of either of their parents, or any of their friends. Before they had been married many days, or had seen their parents, my father being scarcely twenty-one, and my mother not nineteen years of age, both ignorant of the difficulties of life, they were plunged into inexpressible distress by the following circumstance. My father was naturally fond of company, (a disposition far from being salutary to religion, and which of. ten proved hurtful to him;) and having busi mess one evening at an inn, he met an old acquaintance with whom he spent the time, seemingly in the greatest friendship; but when my father was about to go home, his false com panion told him, he should not leave the room that night, and added, “you have now no mas ter but the king, and you must serve him, as you have taken his money.” My father, in a surprise, putting his hand into his pocket, found three guineas more than his own money, which the vile caitiff had conveyed thither un .-- known to him. He threw the money on the floor, and would have forced his way out; but this infamous wretch had provided against that, by securing the door; and being armed, . º REV. S. BRADBURN. s which my father was not, he kept him there till the next morning; and then swore before a magistrate that he had enlisted, and my fa ther was deemed a legal soldier; and in two days after, without being able to inform his friends, that they might procure his freedom, he was hurried away to the regiment, which in a short time went abroad. The distress, or rather distraction of my mother's mind, was almost inconceivable, when on the following morning she heard the affair. And how dread ful was the alternative, either to be separated from one she tenderly loved, or to launch into an ocean of the most disagreeable circumstances." The former was too much for her even to think of-she chose the latter, and accompanied my father through all the dangers to which he was exposed, both by sea and land; and was with him in several battles, in one of which he was much wounded.