MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOSEPH EAST

BURN.

(Continued from p. 105.)

Remarks on Mr. Eastburn's narrative his marriage and the character of his wife-his exile from and return to Philadelphia-his bearing arms-his sonis refused to be taken on trials for the gospel ministry, by the Synod of New York and Philadelphia-his rebaptiza

tion.

The germs of future character are often distinctly seen in early life: and a careful consideration of the narrative before us will, it is believed, disclose the elements of those habits of feeling, thought and action, by which its author was distinguished in his maturer years.

It is his own remark, that he was an example of the inspired declaration of Solomon, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." But for that sensibility of conscience, and knowledge of his duty, which he derived from the pious instructions and admonitions of his parents, there is no probability that he would have torn himself from his thoughtless companions, when going to the Schuylkill to profane the Sabbath by skating on the ice, and have hastened back to attend a place of publick worship. It is the want of such parental teaching and good example as he enjoyed, which is the radical cause that our cities now abound with crowds of noisy boys VOL. VI.-Ch. Adv.

and thoughtless youth, who desecrate the day of sacred rest, and even disturb in their own dwellings, the exercises of those who wish "to keep holy the Sabbath day." To this cause indeed-to the neglect of parental duty-may be traced that shocking violation of the fourth command of the decalogue, which prevails throughout our country, and which threatens to bring down upon it the just judgments of Heaven. If heads of families in general were as faithful in the discharge of their duty as the parents of young Eastburn appear to have been, many, like him, would not only abstain from all open vicious practices, but like him, would also feel the influence of that fear of God, which might lead to the diligent use of all the means of grace; and eventually, under the Divine blessing, to genuine and eminent piety.

In the vivid and impressive views which the subject of this memoir had of his guilt and misery, and of his exposure to the curse of the broken law of God, in his unconverted state, connected, as they were, with his awful apprehensions of the eternity of future punishment, we may doubtless find the origin of that earnest desire, which never forsook him, to be instrumental in plucking sinners as brands from the burning. He could not contemplate their fearful situation, without most anxiously wishing to convince them of

T

it, and to engage them, if possible, to flee from "the wrath to come." He was habitually and deeply sensible that an effectual care for the soul, is emphatically "the one thing needful;" and to do something to do every thing in his power--to promote the salvation of souls, he felt to be an obligation from which he could never be released.

In the long and sore conflicts which this good man experienced, and the variety of exercises through which he passed, before he was comfortably established in the hope of the gospel, we may perceive the source of that lively sympathy which he always manifested with persons in mental distress, and in quiring what they should do to be saved; and of the peculiar qualifications which all who knew him admitted that he possessed, for in structing, counselling, and praying with individuals, who had been brought into this interesting situation. He "remembered his own affliction and misery-the wormwood and the gall;" he had been carried to the borders of despair, or rather, for a season, he seems to have passed those borders; and he had found at last a happy and complete deliverance. Hence his interested feelings for those who were experiencing, in any degree, the views and apprehensions of which he had known so much; and hence too his ability to give them advice, and to assist their labouring minds. They could scarcely speak of a fear or a discouragement, which he had not experimentally known. He had passed over the whole thorny path in which he found them travelling; he knew every inch of the ground, and every danger with which it was filled. He could make out, in his own case, a situation more deplorable than that of the most of those with whom he conversed; and while he warned them faithfully of every false resting place, he could guard them against utter despondency, and invite them,

to an immediate application to that precious Saviour, of whose readiness to receive the very chief of broken hearted and believing sinners, he considered himself as a striking and memorable example. It appears that the Apostle Paul often appealed to his own experience; and there is reason to believe that this was also frequently done by him whose narrative is before the reader. With the holy scriptures his familiarity was eminently great, and scriptural examples and scriptural doctrine were always the authorities, and the only ultimate authorities, on which he relied. Through the whole period of his protracted spiritual conflict, it appears that Mr. Eastburn diligently employed himself in his lawful calling, and that when his distress was the greatest of all, he sought in "working hard at his trade" for the mitigation of his misery. This advice he was doubtless prepared to give to others. He was no friend to the neglect of relative duties, or any of the ordinary concerns of life, because the mind was deeply engaged on the subject of religion; and he was one of the best and safest advisers, for those whose mental exercises were mixed with morbid melancholy.

The doctrines from which an individual first derives relief and comfort, after having suffered from gloomy forebodings in regard to his eternal destiny, he is usually disposed to cherish fondly and maintain steadfastly, in subsequent life. This was remarkably verified in the subject of the present memoir. The all sufficiency of Christ; his obedience and atonement, as constituting a righteousness, the imputation of which is the sole ground of the sinner's pardon, justification and acceptance with God; the necessity of the Holy Spirit's influence, to renew and sanctify the heart; faith, in the strictest sense, the gift of God; the union of the justified sinner with his Saviour

indissoluble, and perseverance in grace the certain consequence; resting on the covenant of grace, in which every true believer is interested, and not on fluctuating frames and feelings, as the foundation of hope and confidence toward God. Of these doctrines the outlines are conspicuous in the narrative of Mr. Eastburn; and of these he was tenacious to the end of his days. He nevertheless cherished a sincere affection for many who differed from him in regard to some of these doctrines, and could maintain a cordial Christian fellowship with them; provided he discerned in them a real love of holiness, a true reliance on the Saviour, and a devoted attachment to his cause. He was a strict Calvinist, of the old school, in his own creed; and could, for himself, not derive comfort from other views of Christian doctrine than those which that creed presents. But the peculiarities of the system he did not reckon among the essentials of religion; and he held his own opinions so meekly, that he was, in a remarkable degree, acceptable, in his visits and ministrations, among several Christian denominations, whose doctrinal tenets differed considerably

from his own.

It appears from his narrative, that his parents early entertained the idea of his being educated for the gospel ministry; and that after his conversion, he, for a time, left his mechanical occupation, and applied to study, with the hope of being regularly introduced into the sacred office. Although disappointed in this, it is probable we may here discern the beginning of that desire to bear the messages of to perishing sinners, which could ever be extinguished. This desires no doubt greatly increased in its intensity, by those circumstances and considerations to which we have already adverted. So intense it certainly was, that he sought its gratification, in opposition to discouragements and disap.

pointments neither few nor of short duration; till at length, after he had passed the meridian of life, he was authorized to use his gifts, in exactly that form which was most desirable to himself.

The foregoing remarks seemed to the writer to be naturally suggested, on a careful examination of Mr. Eastburn's narrative; and to be worthy of attention on their own account: at the same time, they will enable the reader more clearly to understand a number of occurrences, which will be noticed in the sequel of this memoir.

After Mr. E. returned to his business, as a cabinet-maker, nothing worthy of record seems to have occurred; except that he laboured with his usual activity and diligence, and attended meetings for prayer and religious conference, as often as opportunities offered, for about the space of two years.-He then entered into the marriage relation. Among his papers the following certificate was found-

"This may certify, to all persons whom it may concern, that Joseph Eastburn and Ann Owen, both of the city of Philadelphia, were lawfully married on the 12th day of June, Anno Domini, 1771

Per me, JAMES SPROUTT, Minister of the Gospel." The woman whom Mr. E. selected for a wife, was as much noted for industry as himself. Hers was exercised in a branch of the tailor's business, which she had learned, and in which she had become expert. She was a woman of higher intellectual powers and of more improvement by reading than her husband. But her best distinction was her eminent piety. She had, with this, much good sense and discretion, in connexion with an amiable temper and an engaging demeanour. Hence her company and conversation were truly attractive; and the her singular neatness and order of dwelling, were the admiration of all her visitants. Religion, in which She had a deep experience, was ber

favourite topick of discourse. But she never intruded it unseasonably, ostentatiously, or offensively. She suffered conversation to take its natural course, and joined in it with cheerfulness, and sometimes with pleasantry, till a fit opportunity presented to give it a serious cast, or to drop some pious remark which she hoped might be useful. During the latter part of her life, she was an habitual invalid, and found it necessary to confine herself to her apartment through the whole inclement season of the year. Yet she was habitually cheerful, bearing her infirmities with little complaint and with exemplary fortitude. Her maladies were connected with a pulmonary affection, which at length carried her to the grave. But, for her, the grave had no terrors. She approached it not only without fear, but with serenity and a desire to depart. Her patience, tenderness of conscience, Christian resignation, and unwavering hope of heaven, through a long confinement, were of the most edifying kind. She was doubtful of the propriety of taking laudanum to mitigate her cough and restlessness; nor would she consent to its use, till she had very seriously consulted the present writer on the lawfulness of such a remedyThis tribute to her memory it had been criminal to withhold. The period of her dissolution will be noticed in its proper place.

After what has been said, it is scarcely necessary to add, that Mr. and Mrs. Eastburn were happy in their union. For a number of years subsequent to their marriage, they had no house of their own, nor the undivided occupancy of one upon rent. They lived in a single room furnished by themselves, in a family that owned or had rented the dwelling in which they resided. This was their manner of life, during their residence in the city, till after the war of the American revolution; and from the

labour of their hands, in their several occupations, they derived the means of a very comfortable support.

Mr. Eastburn performed two or three tours of military duty, in the revolutionary war; he was in the field at the memorable battle of Princeton, Jan. 3d, 1777, on which the success of our struggle for independence seemed to be suspended. He however accounted it a merciful providence, in his after life, although never in principle opposed to defensive warfare, that he had, in no instance, been instrumental in taking away human life. On one occasion the corps in which he bore arms was commanded to fire on the enemy, but was instantly countermanded, and did not fireNor on any other occasion was he called to discharge his musket on an opposing foe. On the approach of the British army to Philadelphia, in September, 1777, many of the citizens, who had been ardently attached to the American cause, fled into the adjacent country. That Mr. and Mrs. Eastburn were among the fugitives there is no reason to doubt; but the place of their residence, during their exile, if ever known to the writer, is not now in his recollection. Before the close of the summer of 1778, the British troops had evacuated the city, the citizens who had fled returned to their homes, and Mr. Eastburn and his wife resumed their occupations. The subsequent period, however, till the peace of 1783, was one of great publick agitation; religion was in a languishing state throughout the land, and vice and immorality, the usual attendants of war, lamentably prevailed. So far as opportunity offered, Mr. Eastburn continued his former practice of auding meetings for prayer and Christian conference, and was usually a leader in them.

In something more than a year after marriage, as nearly as can

now be ascertained, a son, and an only child, was born to the pious pair, whose story we are tracing. This child bore the name of Thomas; and there can be no doubt that many prayers were offered in his behalf, and much religious instruction imparted to him. Contrary to the wishes of his parents, he insisted, at an early age, on going to sea. After fruitless endeavours to dissuade him from his purpose, he was committed to the care of Captain Benjamin Wickes, then an intimate and endeared friend of his father, and the commander of a merchant vessel which sailed from the port of Philadelphia. The statement of this venerable man, now an elder of the church in his 82d year, as given to the writer a few days since, represents the conduct of young Eastburn, while under his superintendance, as orderly and correct. That he was not so, when he came to act for himself, it is grievous to mention. He, however, became first a mate, and then the commander, of a merchant vessel. By the failure of a mercantile house, into whose employ he had entered, he lost the little property he had acquired: And shortly after, on his return from the West Indies, in a vessel in which he was only a passenger, he was instantly killed by a cannon ball, at the age of 24 or 25 years. This was at the time when the excesses of the French revolution were at their height; and the shot which killed Thomas Eastburn, seems to have been fired with a view to bring to, or to capture the vessel, in which he was a passenger, with a view to plunder. The news of the death of their son soon reached his anxious parents. This correction of their heavenly Father they bore with a submission and resignation truly Christian; but it was manifestly painful for them to speak on the subject to any of their friends. Hence the memorialist, after his pastoral visit to the mourning family, never in

troduced the topick in his conversation with the parents; and hence, although he is satisfied that all the material facts of the case are here correctly stated, he is not quite sure that some unimportant circumstances might be different from the representation now given of them. It may serve to show how opposite are the sources from which consolation under affliction is sought by different descriptions of people, to relate an incident which took place on this sad occasion. Some of the sailors belonging to the ship in which Thomas Eastburn was killed, called on his mother, to narrate the particulars of the disastrous event. On perceiving how much she was grieved, one of them said-" Madam, he died without a bit of pain; the cannon ball carried off his head all at once." Between the views of this sailor and Mrs. Eastburn, what a difference!-he thinking only of an easy death; she absorbed with the thoughts of that eternity into which her son was so suddenly hurried. This excellent woman, in a kind of reserved manner, intimated to her pastor, in the single conversation he had with her on the death of her son, that she had been unusually engaged, and as she thought assisted, in prayer on his behalf, for some time before his death; and this was the source, and the only one, from which she appeared to derive a ray of consolation. It is not improbable that the deep interest which, in the latter part of his life, Mr. Eastburn took in the spiritual concerns of seamen, was increased by the remembrance of his son.

. We now return to narrate the events of most importance in the life of the subject of this memoir, during the period which elapsed from his return from exile, till the termination of the awful pestilence of 1793. It has already been mentioned, that during the first part of this period, he continued his practice of attending meetings for