A Memoir of the Rev. James Crabb ...

Front matter

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover.

Marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the publisher to a library and finally to you.

Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we have taken steps to prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying.

Preface

The materials from which the following Memoir has been framed consist of, — 1st, three Diaries kept by Mr. Crabb — one commencing in the month of February, 1791, when he joined the Wesleyan Methodists, and terminating in the month of January, 1793; another commencing in the month of January, 1795, when he became an itinerant preacher, and ending in the month of December, 1798; and the other commencing in the year 1818, when he was resident at Rumsey, and which, with some intermissions, was continued down to the year 1825 : 2ndly, a large collection of his letters : and 3rdly, a rough sketch of his life, which he drew up during his last illness, but which contains little additional information to that which his Diaries furnish.

These papers were, in the early part of last year, placed in my hands, with a request that as I had enjoyed the privilege of a long acquaintance with Mr. Crabb, and knew something of the labours in which he had spent his days, I would draw up a Memoir of his Life; and with this request, after much hesitation, I have in the following pages endeavoured to comply.

IV PREFACE.

It would have been no difficult task to have extended the Memoir to a much greater length, but as it was desirable to keep it in an inexpensive compass, brevity has been studiously kept in view, though, probably, I may have erred by too great a condensation.

The Memoir has been written with many interruptions, in intervals snatched from professional labours ; and this must be my excuse for the delay in the publication, and the imperfections — which I fear are many — with which it abounds. Christian reader, deal forgivingly with these imperfections. My prayer for thee is, that whatever there is of God^s truth in these pages may profit thy soul, serve to make Jesus more precious to thee, stir thee up in these " perilous times ^' to promote with more diligence His kingdom in this world, and lead thee to higher communion with heaven.

Chapter I. Page

Introduction. — Parentage and birth of Mr. Crabb. — His early religious impressions. — His discouragements. — School-days. — Apprenticeship. — His companions. — His conversion. — Attends Wesleyan ministry. — His spiritual joy. — Joins the Wesleyans. — His devotedness and piety. — Begins to keep a Diary 1

Chapter II

Extracts from his Diary. — State of his religious aflfections and experience. — Extracts from his Diary .... 1)

Chapter III

Grace in the heart. — Quotation from Bolton.- -Mr. Crabb's decision for God. — Extracts from Diary. — Review of his past life. — His progress 22

Chapter IV

State of the Church of England. — Low ebb of religion and morals. — Young Crabb begins to preach on the Sabbath days. — His father's displeasure. — His success. — Incidents. — Determines to become a preacher. — Beleased from his apprenticeship. — Appointed a lay-preacher by Wesleyan conference. — His circuit and labours. — Extracts from Diary. — • Returns home in bad health. — Reappointed to his circuit . 30

Chapter V

Examination of his motives.— Exti*acts from Diary. — Trials and mercies. — Diary. — Returns home in ill health. — Resumes his laboui's. — Their extent. — Continues to labour,

VI CONTENTS.

PAGE

though m bad health. — Returns home. — Occupations. — Appointed to Salisbury circuit. — Returns home. — Deaths of preachers. — Recalled to his circuit. — Self-examination. — Instances of self-denial. — His raptures. — Resigns his itinerancy. — Diary 46

Chapter VI

Preaches in his native town. — Diary. — Heals the sick. — Medical missions. — His acquaintance with Miss Raddon. — His letter to her, offering marriage. — His marriage. — Reflections on maiTiage 67

Chapter VII

Chapel built at Wilton. — Preaches there. — Renoimces ministerial character. — Becomes a partner with his father. — Failure of his fcither^s firm. — Mr. Crabb becomes a traveller. — Opens a school. — Diary. — The discipline he undergoes . 78

Chapter VIII

Mr. Crabb preaches on Sabbaths and at leisure times. — Offers himself to the Wesleyan Conference. — His letter. — His proposal slighted. — Detei-mines to preach at Southampton.— Relinquishes his school. — Hires the Assembly-rooms at Southampton. — Preaches there, and in licensed places in the town. — Diary. — Conversion of Jane Thring. — Her funeral sermon. — Diary 87

Chapter IX

Applications made by fallen females to Mr. Crabb to ' rescue them. — Takes them under his charge. — Difficulties. — Asylum provided for them. — Diary. — Reflections. — Retires from the Committee of Asylum. — Returns to it — Southampton Penitentiary built. — Mr. Crabb's labours at Kingsland. — At Itching Ferry. — Amongst the sailors. — His exten- I Hive labours 99

-I

CONTENTS. VU

Chapter X. Page

Necessity of a chapel for his Southampton congregation. — Out-of-door preaching. — Obtains a site for a chapel. — Lays the first stone. — Diary. — His trials. — Obtains subscriptions — Letters. — Eeflections 110

CHAPTER XL

Mr. Crabb's apostolic spirit. — His congregation. — Holy Ehood church. — His letters. — Kingsland infant-school. — Preaches on board the Peninsular and Oriental Navigation Company's steamers. — His labours amongst their seamen, His tract, addressed to the sailors of Southampton

Chapter XII

Mr. Crabb's labours for the improvement of the Gipsy race. — Southampton Committee. — Letters of Kev. C Hyatt, Eev. Bowland Hill, Rev. C. Simeon. — Success of the Committee. — Mr. Crabb's visit to Epsom race-course. — Annual meetings of Gipsies at Spring-hill. — Description of them. — Gipsy dinner. — Their ignorance of the Eesurrection. — Rev. John West. — Gipsy Asylum erected. — Account of laying first stone. — Speeches on the occasion. — Last anniversary meeting. Declining state of the Gipsy cause. — To what cause to be - traced 132

Chapter XIII

Mr. Crabb*s labours amongst the excavators employed on

'the Southampton Docks. — Preaches to them. — His tract,

entitled "Eli Samson." — Two last entries in his Diary. —

Reflections on over-engagement in the business of religion.

— Lrvingism and Tractarianism in Southampton. . .161

Chapter XIV

Mr. CrabVs Ti-acts: "Mary Ann Kean "—" William Cawte** — "Herbert Bamfield" — "A Warning Voice to Drunkards and Pugilists " — " The Races." — His other publications. — Anecdote. — His seventieth year commemorated at the Long Rooms. — The address made to him. — His speech on the occasion 168 vm CONTENTS.

Chapter XV. Page

Letter from Mr. Crabb giving an account of his labours. — Attacked with paralysis. — Mrs. Ci-abVs death. — Her character. — Second attack of paralysis. — Third. — His death-bed. — Eeflections. — His monument. — Besolutions passed by Corporation of Southampton 187

Chapter XVI

Mr. Crabb's want of learning. — Reflections on learning in connection with the ministry. — Conversion of the Dairyman's Daughter under Mr. Crabb's preaching. — His preaching based on evangelical truth. — Character of his preaching — to the unconverted ; to the converted. — His standard. — Good works. — The new creature. — ^Mr. Crabb's spirit. — His experience. — His mode of treating the failings of believers. — His care of the " little ones." — Watched the results of his preaching. — Remarks on worldly ministers. — The state of the church. — The profession of the day. — Mr. Crabb's triumph over aU opposition. — His spirituality of mind. — His piety. — His abhorrence of covetousness. — Divisions in the church of GkKi. — His respect for the ordinances of man, and the laws. — His assurance. — Quotation from Jeremy Taylor on the perfection of Grod's servants. — Mr. Crabb's deep humility . 198

Chapter XVII

Lessons to be learned from lives of men of God, and concluding remarks .... ... 230

LIFE OF THE

REV, JAMES CRABB.

Chapter I

Introduction. — Birth and parentage. — ^Early religious impressions. — His discouragements. — School-days. — ^Apprenticeship. — His companions. — His conversion. — ^Attends Wesleyan ministry. — His spiritual joy. — Joins the Wesleyans. -His devotedness and piety. — Keeps a Diary.

It is the remark of Dr. Manton, that man is a ductile creature, more apt to be led by the eye than the ear; and this has -been the experience of all ages. Hence the advantage which example has over precept ; for whilst the latter appeals to the understanding, the former strikes the eye and affects the heart. " Quemadmodum pictores,^^ observes a wise heathen, " cimi imaginem pingunt, identidem exemplaria spectant: ita qui se studet omnibus virtutis partibus perfectum efficere, debet ad mores et vitas bonorum ssepe oculos convertere ;'^ — (as painters, when engaged in their art, make use of models to assist them ; so he who would attain to moral perfection should often study the lives of good men;) — a piece of advice no less useful to the man of God than to the mere moralist. Our Lord, it is true, is the great Exemplar of his Church, yet, as Jeremy Taylor has well observed, " He did many things which his people are not to imitate, and they are

B

2 BIRTH AND PARENTAGE.

to do some things which they cannot learn from His example ;*^ a truth fully borne out by the lives of holy men, recorded not only in the Scriptures, but by uninspired penmen ; for in them were exhibited the conflicts between spirit and flesh — the reign of grace over inbred corruption — the triumphs of faith over unbeUef, and those developments of Christian life and practice which were not, and could not, be exhibited by Him who possessed a sinless nature, and in whom Satan ^^ had nothing/' Hence it is that we are exhorted to be "followers of them who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises/' Hence, also, the value of Christian biography. How many have been stirred up to acts of benevolence by the example of a Howard, excited to missionary zeal by the labours of a Schwartz, or a Henry Martin, or have given themselves (as he who is the subject of the following memoir did) to the work of saving souls, by the example of such men as Whitefield and Wesley, or been provoked unto love and good works by what has been recorded of a Wilberforce, a Buxton, or a Fry. " The very remembrance of good men,'' says Farindon, " is a degree and an approach unto holiness; and God has ordained that one Christian should be a lesson to another, which he should learn, and teach again, and strive to improve."

It is from these considerations, and in the hope that He " who inhabiteth the praises of Israel," may be glorified, that the following Memoir has been penned, in which are exhibited the labours, the Christian character, and experience of James Crabb, who, though but a little luminary in the Church's horizon, was, in the place he occupied, a bright and shining light, by which many were directed heavenwards, to the glory of Him from whom that hght was derived. . ^

A »

X

W^ UP

.' rf f TJNIV^ t) J

J

EARLY RELIGIOUS

IMPRESSIONS.

This eminent servant of God was born at Wilton, in the county of Wilts, on the 13th of April, 1774. He was the third son of James Crabb, who carried on an extensive business as a clothier in that town. In his childhood he exhibited many indications of those peculiarities of character for which he was remarkable in after life. He was naturally of an ardent turn of mind, and was endued with an indomitable spirit, and that indispensable element of all greatness, — decision of character. At an early age his heart was deeply impressed with the solemn realities of eternity; he had an extraordinary reverence for the ministers of Christ, and his mind was so much drawn towards the sacred employment of the ministry that in the hours allotted to recreation he was accustomed to assemble his playmates in a wood belonging to his father, where, personating the minister, he addressed them, from a hollow tree which he used as a pulpit, upon their duties and conduct. At the age of ten years his serious impressions were deepened under the ministry of a Mr. Hook, of Wilton, by whom he was instructed in the Catechism; and so great was the esteem in which he held him, that when he removed from the town, James Crabb was, to use his own words, almost heartbroken. The reUgious impressions thus made upon his heart attracted the notice of his father, who, though well disposed towards reUgion, had so great a horror of what he termed Methodism, that he used every influence in his power to check the growing piety of his son, and, with this view, took occasion upon every act of disobedience which he committed, to declaim against his religious profession, and charge him with hypocrisy. But how unsearchable are the ways of God! In the appointed time the persecuting father was, through the instrumentality of that persecuted son,

B 2

4 SCHOOL-DAYS — APPRENTICESHIP.

to receive " an inheritance among them which are sanctified/^

Young Crabb thus circumstanced, — having none to counsel him, and meeting with no sympathy, but rather discouragement at home, — associated with youths who, like himself, were under no restraint, and by whom he was soon corrupted. Having forgotten the instructions he received from Mr. Hook, he went on ^^ frowardly in the way of his heart,^^ and ^^ departed from the living God." In this backsliding state he was placed by his father at a boarding-school in Shenfield ; the proprietor of which, like most of the schoolmasters of those days, was wholly unfit to train or instruct the young. There he learnt nothing more than the common rudiments of an English education : he received no rehgious instruction, nor had he any advantage of moral training. It is no wonder therefore that bad habits were acquired, and the natural corruptions of his heart strengthened; but God, who watched over him with a Father's care, still dealt with his conscience, and brought to his remembrance the lessons of his earlier days, in the retrospect of which he often wept, and in secret prayed.

At the end of two years he left school; and being now in his fourteenth year, his father, without consulting his taste, or ascertaining his capacity, apprenticed him to a man, a professed Socinian, who carried on a large shoemaking business in Salisbury. In this business young Crabb was associated with three young men, — of whom one was an infidel, another a backslider, and the other a young man of some piety, who had connected himself with the Wesleyan Methodists, and was striving, in spite of the discouragements by which he was surrounded, to walk with God. The

CONVERSION. 5

influences to which young Crabb was now exposed preponderated on the side of evil ; and being no longer under parental restraint, he gave way to his corruptions — walked^ as he has himself recorded, "in the counsel of the ungodlyy^^ and was well nigh sitting " in the seat of the scornful/^ but he was permitted for a while thus to walk, that he might learn that most difficult of all lessons to be acquired, " The heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked/^ At length the time of his deliverance, — when he was to escape " as a bird out of the snare of the fowler,^^ arrived; and it was no less sudden than striking. One night, in the month of November, 1790, after he had retired to bed, a thunderstorm, more violent than had ever been witnessed by the oldest inhabitant of the place, passed over the city of SaUsbury. So awful was the fury of the elements that the afirighted inhabitants rushed from their beds, imagining that the judgments of Grod were coming upon the earth. Amongst these was James Crabb, who, filled with terror and dismay, and believing that the vengeance of Heaven was about to overtake him for his sins, fell down in deep abasement before Him whose Spirit he had grieved, and in bitterness of soul cried for that mercy which none ever sought, or shall seek, in vain. From this moment he gave up his ungodly companions, made an open profession of religion, and willingly bore the ridicule to which his change of conduct exposed him. Thus, under God,

One thought Settles a life, an immortality !

He now began to feel that he could no longer attend the heartless, Christless, services of the Socinian chapel, in which he found nothing to satisfy the cravings of his o ATTENDS WESLEYAN MINISTRY.

renewed heart ; and therefore committing himseK to the direction of Heaven by earnest prayer, he wrote an aflfectionate and dutiful letter to his father, entreating him to intercede with his master for permission to attend the Wesleyan chapel. ^^Call upon me in the day of trouble ; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me,'' is the gracious promise of a faithful God, and his faithfulness was proved in this matter; for old Mr. Crabb, though he despised the Methodists, complied with his son's request ; and the master, without demur, gave his assent.

And now began a new era in the life of James Crabb. His attendance at a Wesleyan place of worship led him into a clearer discovery of Gospel truth — he saw and felt his lost condition as a sinner — and fled for refuge to Him who came to seek and to save the lost. That he at this time passed through that great change which all, however amiable or moral, learned or refined, must undergo before they can see the kingdom of God here, or enter into it hereafter, and which is truly called a ^^ turning from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God," there can be no doubt ; and he ever looked back upon this period of his life with satisfaction and thankfulness. He has recorded, that so greatly did he realise the change wrought in his soul, that he might have been seen running and leaping through the streets of Salisbury in ecstasies of joy; — and who that has been the subject of this great and glorious transition, has not felt in some degree the same, and entered in some measure into the experience of what is written, " Ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace ; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you with singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands ?" On one particular day he was so over-

JOINS THE WESLEYANS — HIS PIETY. 7

come that he suddenly stopped in the street, and asked aloud, ^^ What is it that makes me so happy 1" when the words, " thy sins are forgiven thee,^^ seemed to sound in his ears as though audibly addressed to him, and so impressed was he with the occurrence that he received it as, and ever believed it to have been, a Divine intimation to his soul that he was a pardoned sinner — an accepted child. This, however, was but the ^^ beginning of days,^' the infancy of spiritual life. As the Israelites of old knew nothing of the great and terrible wilderness through which they had to pass, " wherein were fiery serpents, and scor^ pions, and drought,^* but imagined that on passing out of Egypt they should peaceably reach the promised land; so our young convert, knowing nothing of the hfe of faith, or of the difficulties and discouragements of the way, thought all was now accomplished, that his path would be strewed with never-fading flowers and lighted with perpetual sunshine: but he soon learnt that the pathway to heaven is one of much tribulation — that there is a cross to be borne, a warfare to be accomplished ; and no man ever learnt those lessons more thoroughly than he afterwards did.

On the 28th of January, 1791, young Crabb, being then of the age of seventeen, was admitted a member of the Wesleyan body — a sect at that time despised, and " everywhere spoken against.'^ He had, however, counted the cost, and he joined them with a full determination of making a total surrender of himself to God. He has recorded that at this time his great delight was prayer, and in this holy exercise he engaged seven stated times every day, to which he added frequent ejaculatory and mental prayer. Having connected himself with several God-fearing youths, he accompanied them to the early prayer-meetings, which in those days were held before the business of the day commenced. In order to secure their early rising, he volunteered to call them at five o^clock in the summer, and six in the winter ; and being, as he has recorded, a heavy sleeper, he used to tie a string to his wrist, which he fastened to a wire communicating with the street-door, that the watchman, to whom he paid a small gratuity, might call him. Finding this method expensive, he adopted the plan of sometimes lying down upon a stick full of knots, on which he considered it unlikely he should lie too long ; at other times he tied a weight to one of his feet, and let it swing at the foot of the bed, so that he was sure to awake by the pulsation which the weight occasioned.

At this period of his life he began to keep a diary in which he recorded the varying state of his heart, the ebbings and flowings of Divine grace in his soul, and his advances and retrogressions in the spiritual life — in other words, a history of his Christian experience. A few extracts from this record may serve to show the reality of the work which was going on within him — the struggles of a renewed heart against natural corruption — and the true secret of progression in the Divine life.

^pevoapv^spRP^iPPii

Chapter II

Extracts from his Diary. — State of his religious affections and his experience. — Extracts from his Diary.

On Thursday the 15th of February, 179], being less than a month after he had joined the Wesleyans, he thus writes :

" In the morning, when I awoke, I found my mind in a good frame, but the Lord did not break in upon me with his presence till after prayer. In the afternoon, about one o'clock, I found my carnal nature stirring ; Satan tempted me against striving after holiness of life — setting before me this person and that person who were not holy, though they had been in the way longer than I had ; but I did not mind him, and was troubled to think that I had, during the day, been overcome by anger, — I had, however, the wounds of Jesus to which I could fly. In the afternoon I did not seem to be breathing after sanctificationas earnestly as before ; but towards the evening I found Christ precious to me, though Satan tempted me to think that it was not the presence of God I enjoyed : but God was stronger than he, and I was not overcome. In the evening, I went to brother Bishop's six o'clock prayer-meeting, and there the Lord poured out his Spirit upon me, and gave me to feel His presence. There were three brethren who prayed exceeding earnestly for sanctification, and gave out suitable hymns, which afforded me great encouragement. When I came home to my closet, upon my bended knees I prayed God to show me His mercies that had been over me all that day; and this he did in a wonderful manner. I thirsted after sanctification, and it was brought to my mind as I was at prayer, 'Blessed are they that himger and thirst after B 3

10 DIAUY.

righteousness, for they shall be filled f by which my drooping soul was greatly cheei*ed."

One of his constitutional infirmities appears to have been impetuosity of temper ; but how much he struggled against it, and was, by Divine grace, enabled to overcome it, will appear from the following extracts from his journal :

" 12th September, 1791. — I enjoyed all this day continual peace with God. In the morning, before I arose, my mind was composed, and before I went to prayer the second time I found Christ to be very precious to me. After I came down, the enemy of my soul strove to overcome me by temptation to anger, but I could rejoice that I was not overcome. This day I determined to set out afresh to take the kingdom by force and violence. In the afternoon, I felt that I did not enjoy so much of the presence of God as I might do, nor behave myself with becoming solemnity. In the evening, I was at prayer in a by-place, where there was some silver-plate, and the enemy suggested to me how well I might take some of it. Several times throughout the day he had been busy with me ; but God, who has promised never to leave me nor forsake me, was with me, and glory be to Him, I enjoyed much of His presence, could see much of his mercy towards me, and feel inbred sin to be a burden.

" 24th September. — All day I enjoyed continual peace with God. Before I got out of my bed the Lord broke in upon me, and I found Christ to be very precious to me, but in the morning it was a miracle of mercy that I was not overcome in anger, for brother Carey " (his pious fellow-apprentice) " and I were like to have been stumbling-blocks in each other's way about a trifling thing, but through mercy (mercy it was) it was not so. In the afternoon a Jew came into the shop, and a Baptist professor, and they got into talk with brother Carey for an hour and a half; but I think he gained nothing by talking to them. I was almost certain, had I talked to them, I should have been overtaken in unwatchfulness, and become angry. At night it was great consolation to me to think that I was not overtaken in anger all the day, though I was convinced

DIAKY. 11

that there were many things in me that required to be subdued, such as trifling talk, lightness of spirit, and laughter ; but, through mercy, I was not overcome with these this day.

" Sunday, 25th September. — This was a day of mixture. In the morning when I awoke, I found my mind very composed, and I went to our six o'clock prayer-meeting ; but I was tempted greatly against many people who were there, and troubled with wandering thoughts. After that I met my class. After I came out of class-meeting, I tied on a handkerchief round my neck, and I could not arrange it to please me— and how the devil did strive to make me angry in an unwatchful moment ! I could not help weeping. If any carnally-minded persons should read, or hear read this circumstance, they will think it is a mere fable ; but the carnal mind cannot discern the things of the Spirit. They are foolishness to them. In the afternoon I was condemned for being at the house of one of my brothers when I might have been at home at prayer. The enemy of my soul went on little by little, for I was pressed upon in the spirit to go many times, but I did not ; I drove it off, minute after minute, as the enemy of souls puts off conversion from the convinced sinner. Thus I was led to consider how dangerous it is to put off anything. Lord have mercy upon me ! for I don't find in any part of the Bible we must repent to-morrow ; no, for that's the devil's time. Now is the accepted time, now^ even now, is the day of salvation. In the evening I was unwell ; and the enemy tempted me not to go to chapel, but I could see from whence the temptation came. I went and enjoyed the presence of God. I met with brother Elliott when I was going to chapel, and we embraced each other with love, and asked after each other^s welfare. I told him how my body was, for I was very ill then, and he informed me that his mind was in a very bad state ; so I comforted him as well as I could, and told him I would sooner feel what I did in my body than a wounded conscience. I found it good to wait upon the Lord ; but I had many wandering thoughts after the minister had ended his evening's discourse. He met the society, and told them in a striking manner the danger of neglecting private prayer. After that, I went to see brother Carter, and he thought that because I sighed I was low in spirit, but I told him, no ; I was mourning because I was not more devoted to God, and more given up to Him, so we had a comfortable discomse together for some time. I found myself very happy, my mind being stayed upon God, and my heart lifted up to Him. The hand of the Lord has been over me for good this day. * Grod is love ! '