The star of the west; being memoirs of the life of Risdon Darracott

Preface

It was not without considerable hesitation, that the Author ventured to present these Memoirs to the public eye. He had, indeed, often perused the documents with the most desirable emotions, and wished them introduced to more general notice ; but he always anticipated the question, why obtrude upon the public, the Memoirs of a man who has slumbered among the dead more than half a century ?

Those who have recently entered into their rest, still live in the remembrance of many surviving fellow-labourers ; and it is in the breasts of those, who already know something of a man, that we expect to find a curiosity to know more. But, the contemporaries of Risdon Darracott, who would have caught eagerly at his Memoirs, and promoted their circulation among friends, have long since gone to join him,

IV

where the pages of biography are neither read nor needed. And now that another generation has risen up who knew him not, what hope can be indulged of attracting any considerable attention to the memory of one, so long gone by in the procession of ages, as to have left scarcely any that can recal his image ?

For, it is not pretended that the subject of these Memoirs was a Luther or Calvin in the church, confined to no cUme, and claimed by every age. The distinguished men, who have created a new sera in religion, may be recalled to notice at any time, and can always justify the interest which they never fail to excite. But the history of those who filled a narrower circle during life, must be recorded immediately after death, or the world will refuse to listen to the instruction which they may be able to afford.

Sometimes, indeed, the powers of the biographer may supply the deficiencies of his theme, and attract attention to the picture, whose original would be despised. As in the life of Savage, we value only the pen of Johnson. But though the biographer of Darracott, pretends to no such powers, while he questions the propriety of extorting attentions to which the subject has no just claims, he has been induced by the force of various considerations, to print the following Memoirs.

The papers from v/hich the volume is compiled, have long been preserved in the family of the deceased, as precious relics. Frequently presented to the eye of friendship, they have furnished the employment of many interesting hours, and proved the source of the most sacred pleasures. It was owned by all, that they furnish such a picture of a heart devoted to the divine glorv, a life consumed in most successful evangelical labours, and a death pre-eminently distinguished by holy triumphs, that it was scarcely less than a duty to draw them from obscurity, and prevent their passing unimproved into oblivion.

Since Christians feel, to their cost, how much they are affected by the spirit and conduct of the living w^orld around them ; should we not endeavour to furnish an antidote to the poison, by calling up even those who have been long dead, that we may live in the circle of those who instruct by their superior wisdom, inspire esteem for their character, and stimulate to imitation of their conduct ? Whenever the God of all grace indulges the world with distinguished specimens of religion, we should study to perpetuate their usefulness beyond the narrow limits of their mortal race. And though it is to be regretted, that Risdon Darracott 1*

VI

had not found a biographer among his contemporaries, who would have enjoyed superior opportunities of extending and prolonging his influence ; it may be hoped, as truth and hoHness are immutable, that excellencies such as are here exhibited, will still find their sympathies in the hearts of Christians, and even now rouse to sacred emulation. For it is presumed, that few pious persons will rise from the perusal of these Memoirs, without feeling their humility increased by the consciousness of inferiority, or their zeal inflamed by the sight of superior ardour.

If the work was to be attempted, the connexion of the Author with the family of the deceased, seemed to impose on him the duty ; as, by marrying the granddaughter of Mr. Darracott, he has come into possession of the documents from which the volume is compiled. That he has yielded to the force of the considerations which induced the attempt, he is forbidden to regret; whatever reception these Memoirs may obtain from the public For it has proved a privilege to hold converse with the pious dead.

Should the perusal of this volume afford to each reader but a moiety of the edification and delight they have afforded to the compiler, they will prove one of the most valuable opportunities of usefulness with

Vll which he has been hidulged. Of this he would not despair. For though some part of the happy impressions produced, mayhave arisen from the sight of manuscripts, so tinged with age as to recal the memory of those who have been long at rest, or written with a tremulous hand on the eve of a triumphant death ; the principal source of emotions which rendered the compilation of the volume a devotional exercise, was the divine sentiments, the holy tempers, the heavenly anticipations, expressed by Mr. Darracott, or his friends. May these be copied into the reader's breast !

If, in addition to the reasons why the Author has written, it be expected that a preface will contain the summary of what the reader may expect to find, this may be told in one word — religion. Risdon Darracott was not a man of the world, whose Memoirs will increase our acquaintance with the history of his country or age : he passed through this world as a pilgrim to a better, and paid no more attention to the affairs of earth than was demanded by his allegiance to heaven. But as religion has a world of its own, he was, in the noblest sense, a citizen of the world.

In a contracted sphere, he possessed an enlarged heart, which took a lively interest in the concerns of the Redeemer's kingdom, wherever it was established, and in-

Vlll troduced him to acquaintance and correspondence with those whose praise is in all the churches. Doddridge, Whitefield, Hervey, the late Countess Dowager of Huntingdon, Dr. Gillies of Glasgow, Mr. Walker of Truro, and Joseph Williams of Kidderminster, persons dear to the memory of catholic Christians, were the friends of his bosom ; though several of them he never saw, till he met them among disembodied spirits. Those eminent persons have often been exhibited in their own Memoirs, and they were worthy to form distinct pictures ; but here, we may still further increase our acquaintance with them, by viewing them in the group of their coadjutors in that noble w^ork to which thej^ consecrated their days.

But, from the different communions to which the correspondents of Darracott belonged, it will be manifest that the zeal of the sectarian, who can see no religion out of his own pale, will not be gratified with this Memoir. Darracott maintained, indeed, with the firmness of a superior mind, that form of Christianity which appeared to him most agreeable to its Great Author ; but he was too good-tempered for a bigot, and too devotional to be engrossed by any but the vital principles of religion.

Associations of Christians which require a sacrifice of their distinguishing principles, ix

are equally disgraceful to all the parties concerned ; but co-operation among different communions on general principles, to promote the grand objects hi which they are all agreed, has peculiar charms. Such associations form the honourable distinction of the present age. This volume, however, exhibits the operation of the same spirit, though upon a smaller scale. We are but perfecting what Darracott and his contemporaries began. As other men have laboured, and we have entered into their labours ; may it be ours to improve to the utmost, the advantages we derive from their catholic zeal !

There are occasions on which we are peculiarly called to sacrifice to truth, and others on which we should pay our vows to charity. The two are indeed harmonious, like the inhabitants of the heaven from which they descend. For '' charity rejoiceth in the truth." But while it is often our sacred duty to contend earnestly for the best form of godliness, it is equally incumbent on all Christians, to seize every opportunity for displaying the power of it unincumbered with the distinctions which arise from the weaknesses of men. That the Memoirs of Risdon Darracott should exhibit Christianity in this pure uncoloured light, will appear unquestionable to every reader of discernment* This conviction in the mind of the writer, has induced him to pass over one minor occurrence, in which, though Mr. Darracott would have appeared to advantage, his opponents would have been placed in a shade that would displease those who now adopt their views, and whom it was the author's wish not to irritate but to edify.

There are those who expect to find the records of genius or literature, in the memoirs of an eminent minister of religion ; but they are here apprized, that Risdon Darracott never aspired to rank among the literati of his age. His papers furnish no fragments of mental project, no correspondence with the candidates for literary fame- To express, in the simplest language, the thoughts which claim nearer affinity to the heart than the head, was all his aim ; and solicitous only to fill heaven with the triumphs of the Redeemer, he was satisfied that his own record was on high.

This, however, will but render his Memoirs more generally useful. It must be the lot of by far the greater number of ministers, to imitate those Apostles, who consumed their lives in preaching;, and left no written instructions to the church. And he who should here learn to secure an apostle's reward, may cheerfully resign an author's fame.

The second edition of these Memoirs,

XI

which has been unexpectedly demanded, is now presented to the public, with grateful acknowleduments to the Author of all Good, for the improvement and delight which many have declared themselves to have derived from the work. Thus encouraged, the Author has determined to enlarge the biography so far, as to fill the volume without the addition of Mr Darracott's Scripture Marks of Salvation, which accompanied the first edition of the Memoirs. Those Marks, however, with the Editor's ISotes, being equally demanded, are reprinted in a form that will admit of their being bound up with the Life, should any one wish to preserve them in one volume.

The enlargement of the present edition has arisen partly from the insertion of additional information concerning Mr. Darracott and his friends, and pertly also from the expansion deemed necessary to place some circumstances, previously glanced at, in a more conspicuous and useful point of light.

The correspondence between Mr. Darracott and his friends, which might have been swelled to a far larger extent, was in the former edition much contracted, in order to keep the volume within the size and price most calculated to promote its circulation.

xu

But, in deference to the judgments of iSome valued friends, who had expressed much pleasure in that part of the work, it is now extended by the addition of several letters, and by the insertion of paragraphs of others, formerly suppressed for want of room. In its present form, the work is devoted with reiterated vows to the service of Him, who has already deigned to honour it with His smiles.

MEMOIRS, &C.

Chapter I

MR. DARRACOTT S ANCESTRY AND BIRTH.

For Christians to sigh after the honours of heraldry is not ambition, but meanness ; since they can claim more than noble or regal descent, being born not of blood, but of God. As, however, the eternal King, the fountain of honour, extends his favour to the seed of those who serve him, calling Israel a people near to him, and assigning this reason, " ye are the seed of x\braham, my friend ^" it would be ingratitude and impiety to throw away honours so sacred, conferred by such a hand. Nor can a Christian look to the general assembly of the spirits of just men made perfect, and behold there a long line of ancestors who have served God with dis- 2 tinguished devotion, without feeling himself exalted by the relation, stimulated by their example, and borne on their wings to heaven.

It would, therefore, be injustice to the memory of Risdon Darracott, and an injury to the ii>- terests of religion, not to claim for him the honours of which an apostle reminded Timothy, «« that his mother and grandmother were holy women, in whom dwelt the unfeigned faith of God's elect." The subject of the following pages might, indeed, trace his pious ancestry still farther back ; for his great grandfather by the mother's side was a confessor in the cause of religion, during the reign of Charles the first. Abhorring the ceremonies introduced by Archbishop Laud into the establishment of his native country, he joined with those who ventured across the Atlantic, to bury themselves in the woods of America. «' The sun," said these voluntary exiles for religion's sake, " shines as pleasantly on America as on Britain ; the same providence that has guarded us here watches over that country j and why should we hesitate to adopt as our parent a country which would afford us liberty of religion, when our own has proved to us a stepmother?" It required, however, all the force of principle, expressed in this sentence with the eloquence of truth and feeling, to rouse the puritans to such a measure. For the improvements of navigation had not yet diminished the dangers of the voyage, and the

American savages^ who still excite horror, were at that time tenfold more formidable.

In that desert w^orld the ancestor of Mr. Darracott was blessed with a daughter ; who was born in the year 1654, and named Hannah. Though it must have been painful to parents who had been accustomed to the comforts of England, to see a daughter growing up amidst the wilds of America^ the puritans and their wives preferred rearing their children to pure religion, under every privation, to infecting them with the contagion of superstition for the sake of the elegant luxuries of life. It cannot, however, be ascertained whether these good old confessors died in their voluntary exile, or returned with their child to end their days in England.

Their American daughter, indeed, became a resident in the native country of her ancestors ; for she was married to Philip Risdon, of Biddeford, in Devonshire, from whom the subject of the following memoir derived his baptismal name. The title of generous gentleman, given to Mr. Risdon, in ancient documents, is an indication of what may be called a man of family, raised above the necessity of labour, or trade ; for the fashion of giving titles to those who are supported by industry was not then know^n. Mr. Risdon's attachment to pure religion brought him acquainted with the daughter of the refugee, who had preferred a good conscience to the comforts of his native land. In her, therefore, he possessed ft companion of kindred soul ; for she inherited her father's pious sentiments and heroic spirit* And in him the emigrant family found the fulfilment of the Redeemer's promise : '« There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and the Gospel's ; but he shall receive a hundred fold, now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands."

One daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Risdon in 1693, whom they named Hannah, after her mother. Upon her, life opened with a more auspicious dawn than upon her maternal ancestors ; for she was not only born in Britain, but under the tolerant reign of William, who had now terminated the religious persecutions which formerly desolated our country, and drove many of its inhabitants into foreign lands. Mr. Risdon died too early to see his daughter settled in life, leaving his mourning relict with her only child, as the solace of her widowhood.

When Miss Risdon came of age in 1714, she was given in marriage to Richard Darracott, at that time the dissenting minister of Swanage, in Dorsetshire. This was one of the numerous host who have verified the poet's beautiful stanza :

"Full many a gem of brightest ray serene, The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear, Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air."

The Darracotts, as well as the Risdons, were ancient residents of Biddeford, in Devon. The guildhall of that town is said to contain the portraits of Mr. Darracott's ancestors, who are recorded with honour among the mayors of Biddeford. From this his paternal line, the subject of the following pages was entitled to an estate, which, however, he never possessed.

Pvichard Darracott, like Moses, learned in all the wisdom of the world, and fit to shine in courts, preferred affliction with the people of God ; for, retiring to feed the flock of God, he spent his days watching over a handful of plain people in an obscure country town. When the writer of this memoir walked through the town of Swanage, almost as retired as the quarries by which it is surrounded ; entered the singularly antiquated little meeting-house where the faithful pastor preached ; and approached the ashlar cottage on the hill where the good man lived, he could not help calling to mind the happy hours employed in reading the records of his wisdom and piety, and saying to himself, '^ was this all that the world could aftbrd such a man ?" But thus the friends of God have been treated in a world at enmity with him. They '' wandered in sheep skins and goat skins, in deserts and caves of the earth, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy."

Neither the obscurity of the situation, however, nor the smallness of his charge, ever generated in the mind of Richard Darracott the lazy arrogant conceit, that his callow thoughts were 2^

good enough for his audience. With great care he prepared, not only for the pulpit, where he might sometimes expect to address strangers attracted by his talents, but also for those private meetings of the members of the church, held after the Lord's supper, from which all strangers w^ere excluded. The notes of the addresses he delivered on these occasions, when the pastor usually pours out the fulness of his heart, without any attempt to shine, excite the highest ideas of his intellectual powers, and of the solicitude with w^hich he studied on every occasion to promote the edification of his flock. A minister could not read them without feeling reproved, or without saying, " if such w^ere his most familiar exhortations to a little company of Christians in a vestry, what would have been his exertions to instruct and save the multitudes whom we are frequently called to address ?"^

* From a volume of these addresses now lying before him, the author cannot refrain from giving a few ex'.racts, as a specimen of the manner in which some obscure dissenting ministers were eraployed in feeding their flocks a hundred years ago — " My friends,

" Meeting together thus in private, while others are at their trades, we declare that we are not of this world, but are pilgrims travelling to a better. Heaven is a Christian's proper home and country. He is born from above, his conversation is in heaven, his eternal habitation is there, his head and Lord there, his best friends and kindred there. At such seasons as these, he meets his country folks to talk about his home, his fellow-travellers to animate each other in their heavenly march. W^e now meet our Lord : for in this private place, I am reminded of the sweet passage. Canticles vii. 11. where the church desires to go forth to fields and villages, to walk with Christ, to receive counsel, instruction, and comfort from him, with freedom, and without interruption. Those that would converse with Christ must escape from the hurries of the world, to attend upon the Lord without distrac-

Well might these fathers of the dissent protest that they did not serve God with what cost them nought, nor supply the lamps of his sanctuary with unbeaten oil. They took alarm at the voice that saith, " Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord negligently." They teach us what tion. " Isaac went out into the fields at evening to meditate." Here we may meditate on the grace that hath made us to diflfer from the rest of the world. Not in outward condition, here all things come alike to all. Is David rich ? so is Nabal. If Joseph is favoured of his prince, so is Haman too. Was wicked Ahab killed in battle ? so was good Josiah. But with regard to our better part, the inward peace of the soul, how hath our God distinguished us ! A good man can look every way with comfort, but the sinner, if his reason were not blinded, wouM always be in Belshazzar's trembling fit.

"1. If they look dovmward. A Christian can take a view of the grave with comfort. It is only a resting place for his flesh. Death has no sting to his spirit. It is but putting off his clothes, or taking a journey. A stile or two more, and I am at my father's bouse, amid my treasures, friends, and relations. 'Tis but winking, Jind I am in heaven. But if the sinner looks down, there is, Jii^st, a dismal grave to receive his pampered sinful body. A mighty change from former indulgences, — the bed of down changed into 1 bed of dirt and putrefaction, and, shortly after, into a bed of flames ; for when he looks lower, he sees, secondly, a dreadful iiell opening for him, devils gaping for him. He dares not die, he :;annot live.

^' 2. If they look backivard. The believer says, with Paul, j'* I have fought the good fight," or with Hezekiah, "remember low I have walked before thee in truth." But ah ! the sinner 3ares not look back at all. He would dread to have God remem- 3er how he has walked. For he now remembers his swarms of i^ile thoughts, the many hard speeches which he has uttered against the ways and people of God.

" 3. They look forward with different views. The Christian ivith comfort and boldness to the day of judgment, the second :oming of Christ. IJe says, " come. Lord Jesus, come quickly." But the sinner is described by Christ, when he says, " men's hearts ihall fail them for fear, and for looking for those things which ire coming upon them. For -when he sees the Saviour that once vooed him, coming in flames of fire to judge him, whither shall le fly? tremendum Dei judicium.

'*j4. See the difference between the righteous and the wicked, so MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT.

vigorous thought and intense feeling should distinguish the discourses, delivered in the name of Jesus, on eternal things.

In this retired, contracted sphere, Richard Darracott found in Miss Risdon such a partner as would make any situation pleasant. Inheriting, with undiminished force, the spirit of martyrdom which had induced her mother's father to emigrate to the new world ; she cheerfully took up her abode at Swanage, where her fine talents, cultivated by her father's care, rendered her a fit companion for a man adapted to more polished society than his flock could furnish.

Mrs. Risdon was much gratified by her daughter's union to a man, eminently devoted to the cause for which her father had suffered exile ; and, as the young couple constituted all that was dearest to her in life, she determined to accompany her daughter to her residence, and fix her home in their humble dwelling. Here she had the happiness to see Mrs. Darracott present her husband with a daughter, who was, early in life, married to Mr. Isaac Clark, a dissenting minister at Bow, in Devonshire. Shortly before the birth of her next child, Mrs. Darracott was called to when they look upward. The Christian hfts up his head because his redemption draweth nigh. They see their crown, iheir treasure, in heaven, and their hearts leap for joy. It now makes their hearts beat gladly, how muc!i more when just entering into pos- Bession. When the sinner looks upward, he sees a heaven that denies him admittance. The jiid^e says, "I know you not." There is an angry God, whose face is a flaming fire against thee though it smiles on thy pious neighbour."

the painful task of committing to the grave the remains of her beloved mother, who was then in her sixty-third year.

It is probable that the pangs of this separation contributed to hasten her own end ; for from this time she drooped, and this lily of the valley was destined to be soon transplanted to the bowers of Paradise. Within a few weeks, she followed her parent to the grave, having died in child-bed, shortly after giving birth to the subject of these memoirs. Could she have foreseen what would be the character of her son, she would gladly have sacrificed life to bless the cause of Christ, which she loved better than life, with such a minister. But, without this additional motive, her heavenly mind enabled her cheerfully to resign the husband of her youth, and the infant fruits of their love, to depart and be with Christ, which, with the Apostle, she pronounced *« far better." She died in 1716, in the twenty-fourth year of her age. The remains of the mother and daughter are deposited in the same tomb, near the door of the established place of worship, in Swanage.* Lovely and pleasant were they, in life, and in death they were not divided. A

♦At this place, about twenty years ago, preached a gay young clergyman ; who, passing by the house of one of Mr, Darracott's former flock, and overhearing him at family prayer, on the eveninu of the Lord's day, took the liberty of violently kicking at the door, to disturb the family in its worship. When questioned concerning Wis conduct, the reason he assigned was, that he thought the family were a set of Methodists, and he would have all such people rooted up. But the reader will now rejoice io-

MEMOIRS OF DARRACOTT.

grey Stone, much worn by the foot of the passenger, exhibits the following appearance and inscription : —

In this Tomb, lies the Body of

Hamnah, Wife of

R. DARRACOTT, in this

Parish of Swanage,

Minister of the Word of God.

She, filled with Graces

and

adorned with rare Abilities,

at the

COMMAND OF GOD,

forsook her

Husband and her Infants,

to fly to Heaven,

on the

Tenth of February,

;«*v,o,Toar S ofSalvation 1716.

In this Tomb, also lies the Body of Hannah, the Mother of the aforesaid Hannah.

She v/as born

IN NEW ENGLAND ;

whitlier for

her Father had fled.

She was married

to Philipp Risdon, Gent.

at BiDDEFORD.

She came hither with

her Daughter, and in a

short time put oflf MortalitTj

on the Third of January,

. ,, < of Salvation 1716.

Mr. Darracott had now passed through the flowery part of his path, for all the rest was thickly set with thorns. The recollection of his short-lived domestic bliss was rendered more learn, that the pastor of the congregation received, a year or two after, the following letter from the same clergyman. Dear Sir, I have had the iinspeakahle happiness to have my views entirely chfingred, with resjard to the relirrions sentiments I preached at Swanaore. I, who once persecuted the truth as it is in Jesua, now preach it. Indeed, Sir, I do not deceive you. Jesus Christ has wonderfully revealed himself to mv soul. — I am a brand plucked from the fire. — I am a monument of divine love. — I reject the doctrine of heathen morality I preached at Swanage, and elsewhere. I preach nothing now but the everlasting gospel of painful, by the sight of the babes who were deprived of their mother at that period of life, which most needs a mother's care ; and when he sought to supply that loss by a second marriage, he plunged into an abyss of woes. For, after remaining some years in a widowed state, having determined to marry again, he fixed his affections on one who had first attracted his notice, by the appearance of eminent religion.

His former partner was a woman of such excellencies, as would have eclipsed the charms of most others ; but Mr. Darracott remembered her with regrets more poignant, in consequence of the perfect contrast between her and his second wife. He hoped, indeed, to have found one of kindred spirit : but w^as soon alarmed by the discovery of her hatred to the piety of which his heart was the altar and his house the temple. On remonstrating with her, and asking, '^ did I

Je8U3 Christ ; and in this letter, I tell the people of Swanage, I have built them upon their own righteousness; but now declare, there is no hope but in a Saviour alone — I have the interest of my Saviour warm at heart, and the Icve of God abundantly shed abroad in me. May God keep my heart warm and animated in his cause and glory. As I believe you preach the Gospel, I write to you and acknowledge I have done an injury to you, and your people, and the cause of Christ at Swanage. I entreat your pardon, I did it in ignorance and unbelief And now, my conscience will not be easy till I have confessed this.