OBSTACLES DID NOT IMPEDE HIM. 113

throne, as a testimony of their faith in the blood of the Lamb.

It is no less true of John Stanford, than of John Howard, that as the friend and the pastor of the wretched prisoner, the orphan, and the miserable of every class," he trod an open but unfrequented path to immortality," in the ardent and unremitted exercise of Christian charity; and it is devoutly to be wished, that this tribute to his memory may excite others to emulate his truly benevolent conduct. He officiated not in the splendid temples, where the charms of music, and the cushioned accommodation, invite a gay and happy multitude; no, his duties led him to the dark cell of the criminal-his feet trod the floors where loathsome disease, and squalid poverty, and death prevailed; and where, but for his untiring fidelity, it is believed that many hundreds would have perished without the knowledge of Christ. No severity of climate, no previous fatigues, no bodily pain, could prevent him, if it was possible, from responding to the calls of the distressed. We have seen him, under all the infirmities of seventy-eight years, and while enduring great bodily pain; in the most oppressive days of July and August, slowly directing his course to the Hospital, the Alms-House, or the CityJail, there to administer to the spiritual wants of those whose temporal woes he could not alleviate. He seemed to have adopted as a motto the well-known maxim-" Haud ignara mali, miseris succurrere disco."

The writer has frequently accompanied the venerable man on errands of mercy to the poor, and from his mind, those interesting scenes will never be effaced. O with what eager attention did the children of sorrow listen to his voice, while with tears of gratitude they have been seen crowding around him at the close of the service, and, like a family of affectionate children, entreating him soon to return! Yes, we

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have gone with him to the hospital, and witnessed the effects of the words of peace which he uttered in the audience of those who, but for him, would probably never have heard the message of salvation. We have been with him in the lonely cell of the condemned malefactor, and seen the man of crime and of blood relent under his preaching, and thank the God of mercy who sent him thither.*

The amount of service performed by Mr. Stanford, as chaplain of the above named Institutions, is believed to be without a parallel in modern times. This fact would appear quite evident, if the reader could peruse the many folio volumes which he has filled with the diurnal account of his labours. The nature of this work will only allow us to intersperse a few brief

* While writing the memoir of a Baptist minister, it is gratifying to quote the opinion of the British Cicero, respecting a layman of the same denomination, and whose life was devoted to the same cause-we mean the immortal John Howard. This wonderful man was born in the year 1726, at Enfield, in England. He was a member of the Baptist congregation in Little Wild-street, London, then under the care of the Rev. Samuel Stennet, D. D. To mitigate the sufferings of the distressed in every clime, he travelled through England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, and Turkey. He died of a pestilential fever, at Churson, on the 20th of January, 1790, in the sixty-fourth year of his age.

"I cannot," says Edmund Burke, "name this gentleman (Howard) without remarking, that his labours and writings have done much to open the eyes and hearts of mankind. He has visited all Europe-not to survey the sumptuousness of palaces, or the stateliness of temples; not to make accurate measurements of the remains of ancient grandeur, nor to form a scale of the curiosity of modern art; not to collect medals, or collate manuscripts;-but to dive into the depths of dungeons; to plunge into the infection of hospitals; to survey the mansions of sorrow and pain; to take the guage and dimensions of misery, depression, and contempt; to remember the forgotten, to attend to the neglected, to visit the forsaken, and to compare and collate the distresses of all men in all countries. His plan is original, and it is as full of genius as it is of humanity voyage of discovery, a circumnavigation of charity. Already the benefit of his labour is felt more or less in every country, and I hope he will anticipate his final reward by seeing all its effects fully realized in his own. He will receive, not by retail, but in gross, the reward of those who visit the prisoner, and he has so forestalled and monopolized this branch of charity, that there will be, I trust, little room to merit by such acts of benevolence hereafter."-Speech at Bristol, previous to the election in 1780.

It was a

extracts, by which the public may form some estimate of the loss which they have sustained in his death. The following is a summary of a single week's work, of this eminent and faithful minister of Jesus Christ, and which is inserted in this place without reference to dates.

"Tuesday-A discourse, &c. in the Lunatic-Asylum; two others in the upper ward of the City-Hospital; after which all the wards are visited.

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• Wednesday—Visit the Orphan-Asylum, examine some of the children, and give them a discourse, &c.; go to the State-Prison, preach twice, visit the sick, and afterwards hear the young prisoners recite their catechism.

"Thursday-Debtor's-Prison and Bridewell-a discourse in each; but in the former place I frequently meet with interruption.

“Friday—Bellevue; visit the two Hospitals in the morning, and usually give a sermon in each; attend as many wards as possible in the front building: afternoon, preach in the Penitentiary, and examine the school; directly after, give a discourse to the maniacs; finish by examining the two Poor-house schools.

"Lord's day—At half-past eight, public service and a sermon in the City-Hospital.

"After this I go to Bellevue, preach in the chapel in the morning; directly after, preach to the state prisoners in the Penitentiary: afternoon, preach again in the chapel, and twice in the month examine the children in their catechism, in presence of the congregation; which has a good effect.

"When at the State-Prison, preach twice, and visit the prison hospital.

"All these places are visited oftener when required by the sick. This is the usual course of the week. Average of weekly discourses.-State-Prison three; Alms-House five; City-Hospital three; Orphan-Asy

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ABOUNDING IN THE WORK OF THE LORD.

lum one; Debtor's-Prison one; Bridewell one; Penitentiary two; Lunatic-Asylum one; Maniac-Hospital one. Total eighteen.

During the past year Mr. Stanford delivered five hundred and forty-seven sermons, and during the present year, down to the 28th of November, he has exceeded that number.

Although the above statement very far exceeds the labours of ministers in general, yet even this was frequently transcended by this indefatigable man. That the above was not selected as a rare and uncommon instance of his laborious zeal for the salvation of men, will be made to appear in the subsequent pages. His pulpit labours were very abundant, besides the ever varying scene of toil to which he was called, in catechetical classes, funerals, parochial visitations, &c. &c.

During the month of August, Mr. Stanford again visited Mount-Pleasant, and the places adjacent, frequently preaching to large and attentive congrega

tions.

On the 20th, he assisted in the ordination of Mr. Frederick Smith, in the church at Stamford, in Connecticut, and preached the sermon, from Jeremiah iii. 15, and made the ordaining prayer. After preaching the gospel in several other places in the state, he returned home, and entered again, with renewed vigour, upon the discharge of his duties as the servant of Christ. About the same time Mr. Stanford was solicited by the Welsh church in Mott-street, to deliver a lecture on the evening of the first Sabbath in every month, for the benefit of those who understood the English language. This service he performed gratuitously, and without interruption, for more than two years. That the uneducated Welsh who attended, might not be entirely deprived of the benefit of the lecture, the following order was adopted. The services were introduced by a hymn, and prayer in Eng

HIS LABOURS IN THE STATE-PRISON.

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lish; then followed a hymn in Welsh; after the text was announced, the pastor of the church repeated it in Welsh; and when the lecture was closed, the pastor prayed in Welsh, and the services were concluded by singing an anthem in the same language.

In the month of October he received a special invitation to preach in the chapel of the State-Prison. His sermon on this occasion was from Isaiah xlviii. 10-" I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." Soon after this, Nicholas Roome, Esq. the head keeper of the prison, solicited him statedly to devote a portion of his services to the benefit of that institution, especially on the first Lord's day in every month. This was the commencement of his useful and long continued labours within the walls of the New-York State-Prison, where, for more than twenty years, he had the immediate charge of the spiritual concerns of

its inmates.

A few months after Mr. Stanford commenced his stated labours in this abode of human wo, the following affecting case of conversion occurred."

"The case of J- R―, aged 20.

"I found this young man very low, and fast hastening to the grave; of which he himself appeared to be sensible. On asking him the state of his mind, he replied, ‘O, Sir, I am at a very great distance from God; nor have I any expectation of being brought nigh unto him. I have indeed been praying, but after all, I do not think that I know the right end of prayer from the beginning. If I could only say, Christ died for me, that is all I wish-I should then be willing to quit this sinful world. My parents, who live in Vermont, gave me a good education; but I now want some better knowledge, to lead me to God. I have just been talking to my companions on these subjects, yet nothing seems to relieve my case.' I then took some pains to instruct and to comfort him, by showing from